Scams now get caught in the chat itself: how moderation works here
Almost every scam happens in a private conversation, the one place most platforms never look. Every message here is now checked by a machine for the signs of a scam as it is sent, and a person follows up. Here is how it works and where its limits are.
Almost every scam on a feet pic platform happens in a private conversation. That is where the request for a gift card arrives, or the "verification fee", or the cheque that is larger than the price. It is also the one place most platforms never look until somebody complains.
We have built moderation into the chat itself. Every message is now checked by a machine for the signs of a scam as it is sent, and a person follows up on what the check finds. This post is how it works, what it means for you, and where its limits are.
Why the chat needed its own protection
Reports are how most platforms find scams, and reports have a weakness: they come afterwards. Buyers pay sellers directly and we never hold the money, so by the time someone reports a scam, the payment has usually gone and nobody can bring it back. The person best placed to report is also the person who has not yet realised what is happening.
Moderation that waits for a report is always one payment too late. So the chat now looks for the scam while it is still only a sentence.
Every message is checked as it is sent
A machine checks each message in a one-to-one chat the moment it is sent. One of three things happens.
| The message | What happens |
|---|---|
| Names another messaging app | Refused. It is never delivered |
| Shows the signs of a known scam | Delivered as normal, and flagged for a person to look at |
| Anything else | Delivered as normal |
The first line closes the door that most scams need: moving you somewhere with no verified identities, no block button and no report form. The second catches what happens when a scammer stays.
What the check looks for
The patterns are the ones that scams depend on:
- Gift cards and vouchers. No honest seller or buyer needs to be paid in store credit.
- Cryptocurrency and transfers that cannot be reversed. Chosen by scammers for exactly that reason.
- Fees paid in advance. "Verification", "activation" and "release" fees do not exist here. Verification is free.
- Overpayments and refunds of "the difference". The oldest trick aimed at sellers.
- Security codes and passwords. Nobody you chat with needs a code that was sent to your phone.
- Contact details. A phone number or an email address is the first step off the platform.
Ordinary ways of paying a seller are not on the list, because agreeing a price and a payment is what a conversation here is for.
A person follows up on every flag
A flag does not disappear into a system. It lands in a review queue, and a person looks at it: the message, the conversation around it, and the account that sent it.
When that person sees a scam, they act at once. The account can be paused, suspended or removed for good, and a removed account cannot come back with a new email address, because its identity document is blocked as well. Every decision comes with a written statement of reasons, as the Content Rules describe.
When they see an honest message, nothing happens, and nobody is ever told that it was looked at.
What it means for you
If you use the chat the way it is meant to be used, you will not notice any of this.
- Your messages are delivered as before. A flag never delays or blocks a message.
- Chat, calls and livestreams carry on. A flag changes nothing about your account.
- A machine never punishes. A flag cannot pause, suspend or remove anyone. A person decides.
Strong moderation, without reading everything
Checking every message by machine is not the same as a person reading every message. Nobody reads your conversations as a matter of routine. A person on our side reads private messages in four cases only:
- someone in the conversation reports it;
- a message was refused or flagged, in which case that message and the conversation it belongs to can be read;
- the account is under review, because of an open report, a pause or an identity check that is being held;
- an authority orders it.
Each time a conversation is opened, we record who opened it, when and on which of those grounds. Messages sent before 1 October 2026 are not opened under these rules at all. The Terms and the Privacy Policy were updated to set all of this out, which is why everyone is asked to accept them once more.
How it fits with everything else
The chat check is the newest layer, not the only one.
| Layer | What it stops |
|---|---|
| ID and age check for every buyer and seller | The disposable account |
| Sellers public only once verified | Fake profiles in the directory and on the feed |
| Contact details refused in profiles, captions and comments | The handle in the bio |
| A daily limit on new conversations for new sellers | Mass messaging before anyone can report it |
| Messages checked as they are sent | The scam sentence itself |
| Reports with a ticket, a deadline and an answer | Whatever the layers above missed |
| Removal that blocks the document and the email address | The second account |
Why stopping scammers comes first explains the thinking behind these layers, and keeping scammers out covers the earlier ones in detail.
Being straight about this
No filter is perfect, and a post that claimed otherwise would be doing a scammer's work for them.
- Flags will catch innocent messages. Plenty of honest sentences mention a deposit or a voucher. A person will sometimes read one of yours for that reason, and then do nothing.
- Flags will miss scams. Someone who words things carefully can get past any pattern. The check narrows the gap; it does not close it.
- We still cannot recover money. Buyers pay sellers directly, so we cannot reverse a payment sent to someone who does not deliver.
That is why reporting still matters. A report comes from someone who was there, and it tells us what no pattern can.
What you can do
Keep the conversation here, and report what looks wrong. The report form is reachable from every profile, post, comment and message.
The staying safe guide walks through the scams we see most, for buyers and for sellers. Feet pic scams: 8 red flags covers the warning signs in more depth, and the rest is in the FAQ.
A scam has to be said before it can work. Here, saying it is what gets it caught.