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Meta Platforms Inc. (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) announced on Wednesday the removal of 63,000 accounts associated with the Nigerian cybercrime scene, which were engaged in financial sextortion scams targeting users in the United States.
In its Q1 2024 Adversarial Threat Report on Wednesday, Meta stated that the removed accounts also included a smaller coordinated network of approximately 2,500 accounts, which were linked to a group of about 20 individuals.
“They targeted primarily adult men in the U.S. and used fake accounts to mask their identities,” Meta said.
The company also stated that it identified and disabled these accounts using advanced technical signals and thorough investigations, thereby enhancing its automated detection systems.
“Financial sextortion is a borderless crime, fueled in recent years by the increased activity of Yahoo Boys, loosely organised cybercriminals operating largely out of Nigeria that specialize in different types of scams,” Meta said.
It added, “We’ve removed around 63,000 accounts in Nigeria attempting to target people with financial sextortion scams, including a coordinated network of around 2,500 accounts.”
“We’ve also removed a set of Facebook accounts, pages, and groups run by Yahoo Boys—banned under our Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy—that were attempting to organize, recruit and train new scammers.”
Meta’s global head of safety, Antigone Davis, further explained that while most of the attempts targeted adults and were unsuccessful, there were also reports involving minors, which were referred to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
“While our investigation showed that the majority of these scammers’ attempts were unsuccessful and mostly targeted adults, we did see some attempts to target minors,” David said.
Furthermore, Meta announced the removal of approximately 7,200 assets in Nigeria, which included 1,300 Facebook accounts, 200 pages, and 5,700 groups involved in disseminating scam-related resources.
It was elaborated that these assets were found offering scripts and guides for scams, as well as sharing links to collections of photos used to create fake accounts.
“Their efforts included offering to sell scripts and guides to use when scamming people, and sharing links to collections of photos to use when populating fake accounts,” it said.
The social media giant stated that its efforts extend beyond account removal, noting that it has also been working closely with law enforcement, supporting investigations and prosecutions by responding to legal requests and alerting authorities to imminent threats.
“We also fund and support NCMEC and the International Justice Mission to run Project Boost, a program that trains law enforcement agencies around the world in processing and acting on NCMEC reports.
“We’ve conducted several training sessions so far, including in Nigeria and the Cote d’Ivoire, with our most recent session taking place just last month.”
In an effort to safeguard users, particularly teenagers, Meta revealed that it has introduced stricter messaging settings for users under 16 (under 18 in certain countries) and displays safety notices to promote cautious behavior online.