Meta Removes 63K Instagram Accounts In Nigeria For 'Yahoo Boy' Sex Extortion'

UNSPLASH/Dima Solomin ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Meta platform removed about 63,000 accounts in Nigeria involved in sexual extortion fraud that mostly targeted adult male victims in the United States (US).

An online fraudster in Nigeria, known as the "Yahoo boy", is driving its action disguised as someone in need of finance or a Nigerian prince offering a profit on an extraordinary investment.

Meta also deleted 7,200 Facebook accounts, pages and groups that provided information providing tips on tricking people.

Meta says the deleted accounts also include a smaller coordinated network, which is about 2,500 accounts linked to groups consisting of about 20 individuals.

"They mainly target adults in the US and use fake accounts to cover up their identities," Meta said.

In sexual extortion (sextortion), people are threatened with spreading dangerous, both original and fake photos, if they don't pay to stop it.

The investigation shows most of the fraudster's efforts were unsuccessful and although most targeted adults, there were also attempts at minors, Meta reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in the US.

Meta uses a new combination of technical signals developed to help identify sex extortion.

As economic difficulties worsened in this country of more than 200 million people, online fraud also increased, with fraudsters operating from university dormitories, slum areas in the suburbs, or wealthy communities.

Meta says some accounts provide tips for committing fraud.

"Their efforts include offering to sell scripts and guides for use when defrauding people, and sharing links to photo collections for use when filling in fake accounts," he said.