Meta is partnering with UK banks on a data-sharing initiative aimed at tackling fraud by enabling banks to share intelligence with Meta to help the platform stop scammers and protect users.

The Fraud Intelligence Reciprocal Exchange (FIRE), which is facilitated by cross-industry body Stop Scams UK, is a threat intelligence sharing program for financial institutions.

It is designed to allow banks to share information directly with Meta, which it will use to combat scams across Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.

NatWest and Metro Bank were the first banks to participate in a six-month pilot of the scheme to test its effectiveness, but more banks are scheduled to join during its new expansion.

The pilot of the scheme resulted in the takedown of a “significant” concert ticket scam network, which attempted to target individuals in the UK and the US.

It also facilitated the removal of approximately 20,000 accounts run by scammers based on 185 URLs shared by NatWest and Metro Bank.

Meta said these collaborative efforts have helped to enhance its fraud detection capabilities.

Nathaniel Gleicher, global head of counter-fraud at Meta, said:  “We will only beat these criminals if we work together and share relevant information related to scams. Financial institutions can share unique information with us which we can in turn use to train our systems to take action against more scams globally.”

According to Meta, the expansion of the pilot to include more banks has been welcomed by the banking industry as well as the City of London Policy and the National Economic Crime Centre.