Grace Ashiru
Meta has announced the removal of about 63,000 Facebook accounts originating from Nigeria, which were involved in financial sextortion scams. These scams typically involve the perpetrators posing as attractive women to deceive victims into sending nude photographs. Once the images are obtained, the scammers then threaten to release them publicly unless a ransom is paid.
Additionally, the tech giant has taken down around 7,200 resources, including 1,300 Facebook accounts, 200 Facebook Pages, and 5,700 Facebook Groups, all from Nigeria.
These pages and groups facilitated scams by offering guidance, including scripted dialogues for engaging with victims and providing links to collections of images used by scammers to create fake identities for catfishing.
The parent company of Facebook also disclosed the removal of accounts, including approximately 2,500 linked to a coordinated network operated by around 20 individuals.
Meta reported that its investigation revealed most financial sextortion attempts by scammers targeting adult men in the United States were unsuccessful. However, the company noted instances where minors were targeted, which Meta promptly reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The tech giant reported that financial sextortion, like many crimes, extends beyond national boundaries. In recent years, there has been a noticeable rise in scammers targeting individuals globally via the internet. These efforts are primarily led by cybercriminals referred to as Yahoo Boys — Nigerian online fraudsters — who perpetrate a range of scams, including financial sextortion.
Meta has implemented a ban on Yahoo Boys under its Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy, one of the company’s strictest policies. This means that any accounts associated with Yahoo Boys and their criminal activities are promptly removed as soon as they are identified, according to the company.
Furthermore, sextortion often begins with romance scams, with reports highlighting Nigeria’s prominent role in online romance fraud across Africa. Unfortunately, scammers are increasingly targeting mobile games as well for exploitation.
In response, Meta is testing advanced technology to prevent victims from falling prey to sextortion scams. This includes a new auto-blur feature in Instagram direct messages (DMs), designed to automatically blur images if nudity is detected, as announced by the company.
