MENLO PARK, USA – Meta Platforms Inc. has deleted over 63,000 accounts in Nigeria linked to scammers who were blackmailing users after soliciting intimate photos.
The extensive removal targeted accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp that were in violation of the social media giant’s rules and policies.
The action, undertaken at the end of May, also included the removal of thousands of additional accounts, pages, and groups that shared scripts on how to blackmail and sexually extort users.
This move comes approximately six weeks after Bloomberg Businessweek reported a significant increase in financial sextortion cases in the United States.
Sextortion schemes often involve scammers posing as underage girls on platforms like Instagram or Snapchat, convincing victims to share nude images, which are then used to blackmail them.
The perpetrators threaten to send these images to the victims’ friends and family if their demands are not met.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified sextortion as one of the fastest-growing crimes targeting children in the country.
Since late 2021, over two dozen minors, mainly teenage boys, have died by suicide after falling victim to these schemes.
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Bloomberg Businessweek’s April cover story detailed the tragic case of Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old athlete from Marquette, Michigan.
DeMay took his own life after being blackmailed on Instagram. Following this incident, local police and the FBI traced his blackmailers to Lagos, Nigeria, and extradited two young men to the U.S. to face wrongful death charges.
They pleaded guilty in April.
The rapid increase in financial sextortion has been linked to the “Yahoo Boys,” a loosely organized group of digital con artists who orchestrate scams on a large scale.
Meta disclosed that many of the Facebook accounts, pages, and groups it removed were associated with “Yahoo Boys” who were attempting to “organize, recruit, and train new scammers.”
These groups were found selling blackmail scripts and scam guides, as well as sharing links to photos intended to legitimize fake accounts.
One network of 20 individuals managed 2,500 fake accounts primarily targeting men in the U.S., according to Meta.
“Financial sextortion is a horrific crime that can have devastating consequences,” Meta stated. The company’s investigation found that the majority of the scammers’ attempts failed. In cases involving minors, Meta reported the incidents to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
“This is an adversarial space where criminals evolve to evade our ever-improving defenses,” Meta added. “We will continue to focus on understanding how they operate so we can stay one step ahead.”
To further protect users against sextortion scams, Meta has implemented stricter message settings on teen accounts, sent out sextortion-focused safety notices, and introduced measures to blur nude photos sent or received by minors initially.
