According to the company, the accounts were mostly directed toward males from the United States.
As part of a comprehensive effort to combat sextortion frauds, Meta has removed tens of thousands of Instagram accounts that originated from Nigeria. According to an update provided by Meta, the accounts predominantly targeted adult males in the United States, although some of them also targeted the younger generation.
In recent months, Meta has been making a stronger effort to prevent sextortion scams on its platform, and the takedowns are a part of that larger effort. At the beginning of this year, the company implemented a safety function in Instagram messages that can automatically detect nudity and alert users to the possibility of being approached by blackmailers. Additionally, the organization offers in-app tools and useful safety advice regarding scams of this nature.
According to Meta, the recent takedowns included 2,500 accounts that were connected to a group of approximately twenty individuals who collaborated to carry out sextortion scams. These individuals were employed by the gang. Additionally, the business removed thousands of Facebook accounts and groups that offered instructions and other forms of guidance to individuals who were interested in sextortion. These accounts and groups included scripts and false photographs. The Yahoo Boys are a group of “loosely organized cybercriminals operating largely out of Nigeria that specialize in various types of scams,” according to Meta. These accounts were linked to the Yahoo Boys.
It has come to the attention of many people that Meta is not doing enough to safeguard young people from being subjected to sextortion on its various apps. In the beginning of this year, Senator Lindsey Graham questioned Mark Zuckerberg about whether or not the parents of a child who committed suicide as a result of falling prey to such a hoax should be permitted to file a lawsuit against the company.
The company verified that some of the accounts had targeted kids as well, and that those accounts had also been reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). This was despite the fact that the company stated that the “majority” of the con artists that it discovered in its most recent takedowns targeted adults.