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Meta Platforms announced on Wednesday that it had removed approximately 63,000 Facebook accounts in Nigeria that were involved in financial sexual extortion scams, primarily targeting adult men in the United States.
These scams, orchestrated by Nigerian fraudsters known as “Yahoo boys,” often involve posing as individuals in need or Nigerian princes promising high investment returns.
Details of the Scams and Meta Response:
The removed accounts included a smaller, coordinated network of around 2,500 accounts linked to a group of approximately 20 individuals. Meta explained that these scammers used fake accounts to conceal their identities while targeting primarily adult men in the U.S.
The scammers engaged in “sextortion,” threatening to release compromising photos—real or fabricated—unless victims paid to prevent their release. While most of the scams targeted adults, there were also attempts against minors, which Meta reported to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the U.S.
Meta utilized new technical signals to identify and combat these sextortion activities. Additionally, some accounts provided tips and resources for conducting scams, including selling scripts and guides for scamming people and sharing links to photo collections for creating fake accounts.
Context and Background:
The term “419 scams” originates from the section of Nigeria’s penal code that addresses fraud, reflecting the country’s long-standing issue with such schemes.
As economic challenges intensify in Nigeria, online scams have increased, with perpetrators operating from various locations, including university dormitories, shantytowns, and affluent neighborhoods.
Meta’s efforts are part of a broader initiative to combat these scams and protect users from online fraud and exploitation.
