Meta has confirmed it removed thousands of Instagram accounts linked to alleged sextortion scams.
The social media giant — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads — revealed they took down 63,000 accounts.
Some 2,500 accounts were said to be run by 20 individuals allegedly trying to cheat people out of money.
Meta says the group is called Yahoo Boys — nothing to do with the web portal and search engine Yahoo! — and that they are based in Nigeria. They were targeting mostly men and setting up fake relationships and, in the process, asking the individual to send nude pictures and videos. Then, the extrotionists would claim they will share the photos and videos with the individual’s family and friends if they do not pay up.
Due to some of those targeted being minors, Meta had to report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The firm’s global head of safety, Antigone Davis, said in a blog post that Meta is “testing” ways to encourage people to spot the scams.
“We’re also testing new ways to help people spot potential sextortion scams, encourage them to report and empower them to say no to anything that makes them feel uncomfortable,” the post said.
“We’ve started sharing more signals about sextortion accounts to other tech companies through Lantern, helping disrupt this criminal activity across the internet,” it stated.
