Meta Platforms has announced that it removed about 63,000 accounts engaged in sextortion scams in Nigeria. The removed profiles included a coordinated network of 2,500 accounts, according to an official blog post.
The removal targeted the “Yahoo Boys”, a group of cybercriminals that has been banned under Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy. The group specialises in various forms of online crimes, according to Meta. The company also removed several accounts, pages, and groups operated by the group on Facebook.
“First, we removed around 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria that attempted to directly engage in financial sextortion scams,” says Meta. “These included a smaller coordinated network of around 2,500 accounts that we were able to link to a group of around 20 individuals.”
Meta’s investigation revealed that most of the sextortion attempts aimed at adult users were unsuccessful. However, several accounts belonging to minors were targeted, too. Meta has reported the accounts to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
“Second, we removed around 7,200 assets, including 1,300 Facebook accounts, 200 Facebook Pages and 5,700 Facebook Groups, also based in Nigeria, that were providing tips for conducting scams,” the post reads. “Their efforts included offering to sell scripts and guides to use when scamming people, and sharing links to collections of photos to use when populating fake accounts.”
Sextortion is among the most serious threats in today’s digital age. Several social media platforms are weaponised by scammers to target individuals by faking a romantic interest, getting them to share their private media. The cybercriminals then use these intimate images and videos of the victims to blackmail them and extort money.
