Meta removed 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria that were trying to financially sextort users.
According to the blogpost from Meta, the accounts that were removed primarily targeted American men and were mostly unsuccessful adding that among them was a network of 2,500 accounts that Meta linked to 20 individuals.
The blogpost explained such scammers typically pose as young women online to trick people into sending sexually explicit material before blackmailing them.
It stated that Victims of sextortion crimes have taken their own lives due to the stress, stigma and shame felt after being scammed.
“ We are announcing the strategic network disruption of two sets of accounts in Nigeria that were affiliated with Yahoo Boys and were attempting to engage in financial sextortion scams,” the blogpost revealed..
Yahoo Boys are a loosely organized group of cybercriminals based in West Africa and are banned under Meta’s Dangerous Organizations and Individuals Policy.
Meta further said that its investigation also resulted in the removal of 1,300 Facebook accounts, 200 Facebook pages and 5,700 Facebook groups that all provided tips on how to conduct scams.
In addition to the current measures in place, Meta said it is testing new tools to combat sextortion, including an on-device nudity protection feature available in Instagram’s DMs, which will alert users of the potential risks when they send an explicit image.
“This is an adversarial space where criminals evolve to evade our ever-improving defenses,” Meta concluded in the post. “We will continue to focus on understanding how they operate so we can stay one step ahead, and will continue our vital cooperation with child safety experts, law enforcement and the tech industry to help disrupt these criminals across all the platforms they use.
