Meta blocks thousands of Facebook and Instagram accounts running sextortion scams from Nigeria

Meta announced on Wednesday that it had shut down around 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria that were running sexual extortion scams and removed thousands of Facebook groups and pages that attempted to organize, recruit and train new scammers.

Sexual blackmail, or sextortion, involves persuading a person to post explicit photos online and then threatening to release the images unless the victim pays money or provides sexual favors. Recent high-profile cases include two Nigerian brothers who pleaded guilty to sexually blackmailing teenagers and young men in Michigan, including one who committed suicide, and a Virginia sheriff’s deputy who sexually blackmailed and kidnapped a 15-year-old girl.

There has been a significant increase in sextortion cases in recent years, partly due to a loosely organized group called Yahoo Boys, which operates primarily out of Nigeria, Meta said. The organization added that it has applied its “dangerous organizations and individuals” policy to remove Facebook accounts and groups operated by the group.

“Because they’re driven by money, they can target indiscriminately,” said Antigone Davis, Meta’s global security chief. “In other words, think of this as a kind of indiscriminate approach: go out and send lots and lots of requests to individuals and see who responds.”

In January, the FBI warned of a “huge increase” in sexual blackmail cases targeting children. Victims are mostly boys between the ages of 14 and 17, but the FBI said any child could be a victim.

Meta said the investigation found that most of the scam attempts were unsuccessful and were primarily aimed at adult men in the United States. However, there were also “some” scam attempts that targeted minors. Meta reported this to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The accounts removed included a “coordinated network” of about 2,500 accounts linked to a group of about 20 people who operated those accounts, Meta said.

In April, Meta announced it would be rolling out new tools on Instagram to protect teens and combat sexual blackmail, including a feature that automatically blurs nudity in direct messages. Meta is still testing these features as part of its campaign to combat sexual fraud and other forms of “image abuse” and to make it harder for criminals to contact teens.

Davis said users should look out for messages from people who have “highly stylized” photos, who “look exceptionally good” or who have never messaged them before.

“That should give you pause,” she said. Users should also pause if someone sends a picture first – scammers often use this tactic to gain trust and trick unsuspecting people into sending them a photo of themselves back.

“This is one of the areas where I urge caution when there is any suspicion,” she said.