Social media major Meta Platforms announced the removal of approximately 63,000 Facebook accounts from Nigeria involved in financial sexual extortion scams targeting adult men in the United States.
The perpetrators, commonly referred to as “Yahoo boys,” are infamous for online fraud schemes, including posing as individuals in financial distress or offering lucrative investment opportunities under the guise of Nigerian princes.
The removal included a smaller network of around 2,500 accounts linked to a group of approximately 20 individuals. “They targeted primarily adult men in the U.S. and used fake accounts to mask their identities,” Meta stated. Sextortion, a form of blackmail involving threats to release compromising photos unless a ransom is paid, was the primary tactic used by these fraudsters.
Meta’s investigation revealed that most attempts were unsuccessful, though there were also efforts to target minors. These incidents were reported to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the U.S. Meta utilized new technical signals to identify and combat sextortion activities.
Online scams have surged in Nigeria amid worsening economic conditions in the country of over 200 million people, Reuters news report said. Scammers operate from diverse locations, including university dormitories, shanty suburbs, and affluent neighborhoods. Some of the removed accounts even provided tips for conducting scams, offering scripts, guides, and links to photo collections for creating fake accounts.
The term “419 scams” originates from the section of Nigeria’s penal code that addresses fraud, albeit ineffectively. This crackdown highlights Meta’s ongoing efforts to enhance platform security and protect users from online fraud.