Nigeria: Meta disables 63,000 sextortion-related accounts

Meta announced on Wednesday that it has banned about 63,000 Instagram profiles in Nigeria engaged in sexual extortion, as well as hundreds of Facebook groups and pages attempting to organize, recruit, and teach new scammers.

Sexual extortion, often known as sextortion, is the practice of enticing someone to provide intimate photos online and then threatening to make the images public if the victim does not pay money or gain sexual favors.

Recent high-profile incidents include two Nigerian brothers who pleaded guilty in Michigan to sexually extorting teenage boys and young men, one of whom committed suicide, and a Virginia deputy sheriff who sexually extorted and kidnapped a 15-year-old girl.

Sextortion instances have surged in recent years, owing in large part to a loosely structured group known as the Yahoo Boys, which operates mostly from Nigeria, according to Meta. The business also stated that it has used its policy on “dangerous organizations and individuals” to deactivate Facebook accounts and groups maintained by the group.

Antigone Davis, Meta’s worldwide head of security, stated that because they are motivated by money, they can attack anyone without discrimination. “In other words, it’s a bit of a scattergun approach: send lots of requests to individuals and see who can respond.

“In January, the FBI warned of a “significant increase” in sextortion instances involving juveniles. The victims are typically guys aged 14 to 17, although the FBI stated that any child might become a victim.

Meta stated that his inquiry revealed that the bulk of the fraudsters’ attempts were unsuccessful and that they mostly targeted adult males in the United States, but that “some” attempted to target minors, which Meta reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

According to Meta, the removed accounts were part of a “coordinated network” of over 2,500 accounts maintained by a group of around 20 people.

In April, Meta announced the launch of new Instagram capabilities to safeguard young people and against sexual extortion, including a function that instantly fades nudity in direct messaging.

Meta is still evaluating these capabilities as part of its campaign to prevent sex scams and other types of “image abuse,” as well as making it more difficult for criminals to contact teenagers.
Davis advises users to be suspicious of communications from people whose images are “highly stylized,” “exceptionally good-looking,” or who have never messaged them before.

“This should give you pause,” she remarked. Scammers frequently use this method to earn the trust of naïve victims and deceive them into providing them a photo of themselves.

“This is one of the areas where, if you have any suspicion, I would urge you to be cautious ,” she replied.