Lagos, Nigeria | By Michael Wandati | Meta has intensified its fight against cybercrime by removing 63,000 Instagram accounts from Nigeria involved in financial sextortion scams, days after authorities in the West African country slapped a $220 million fine.
A blog post from Meta revealed that these accounts primarily targeted American men, with most of their efforts proving unsuccessful.
Among the removed accounts was a network comprising 2,500 profiles, which Meta traced back to 20 individuals.
The blog post detailed how these scammers operated, often impersonating young women online to deceive individuals into sharing sexually explicit content. Once the material was obtained, the scammers would then use it to blackmail their victims.
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.
These accounts, which were primarily aimed at American men, were part of a broader crackdown that also saw the removal of 1,300 Facebook accounts, 200 Facebook pages, and 5,700 Facebook groups offering advice on scamming tactics.
The group behind these activities, often referred to as “Yahoo Boys,” is a loosely organized network of cybercriminals based in West Africa. These individuals operate under deceptive practices, including posing as young women to coerce explicit content from victims, which is then used for blackmail.
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Meta’s actions align with its Dangerous Organizations and Individuals Policy, which targets such criminal enterprises. To further enhance its defenses against sextortion, Meta is also testing new preventive tools.
One such tool, currently being trialed, is an on-device nudity protection feature in Instagram’s direct messages. This feature is designed to alert users about potential risks when sending explicit images, adding an extra layer of security against sextortion attempts.
“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.”
