By Tosan Edematie
Meta Platforms (META.O) announced on Wednesday that it has taken down approximately 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria involved in financial sexual extortion scams targeting adult men in the United States, according to a Reuters report.
Nigerian fraudsters, often referred to as “Yahoo boys,” have a notorious reputation for a variety of online scams. These range from posing as individuals in dire financial need to masquerading as Nigerian princes promising lucrative investment returns.
In its statement, Meta revealed that, alongside the 63,000 Instagram accounts, it had also removed 7,200 Facebook accounts, pages, and groups that were sharing tips on how to scam people. Additionally, the company dismantled a smaller network of around 2,500 accounts linked to a group of about 20 individuals.
Sextortion involves threatening individuals with the release of compromising photos, either real or fabricated, unless they pay to prevent their release. While most attempts by these scammers were unsuccessful, some targeted minors, prompting Meta to report these incidents to the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Meta representatives noted that this was not their first effort to disrupt such networks. They decided to disclose the current operation to raise awareness about the issue.
In recent years, Meta has faced increasing pressure from governments, including U.S. legislators, to address concerns that its services can harm children. Earlier this year, a U.S. lawmaker accused Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other social media leaders of having “blood on their hands” for failing to protect children from growing threats of sexual predation on their platforms. The U.S. Surgeon General has also suggested adding warning labels to social media apps to highlight these risks.
Nigeria’s online scams, often dubbed “419 scams” after the relevant section of the national penal code, have surged as economic hardships worsen in the nation of over 200 million people. These scams are orchestrated from a variety of locations, including university dormitories, shanty suburbs, and affluent neighborhoods.
Meta’s investigation revealed that some accounts were offering tips for conducting scams. “Their efforts included offering to sell scripts and guides for scamming people, and sharing links to collections of photos for use in creating fake accounts,” Meta stated.
