Meta has shut down 63,000 Instagram accounts for using the social media platform to sexually blackmail people.
The accounts, mostly originated in Nigeria, were involved in the financial and sexual exploitation of adult men in the US who blackmailed people by editing photos uploaded to various Instagram accounts.
These online fraudsters from Nigeria, known as ‘Yahoo Boys’, target people to make money. They also lure people into their trap by telling them that a Nigerian prince has offered them a fantastic return on investment.
Additionally 7,200 Facebook accounts, pages, and groups involved in the fraud have been removed.
The social media giant also dismantled a small integrated network of about 2,500 accounts that groups of about 20 people ran. In this sexual extortion, or ‘sex solicitation’, people are threatened that their sexual images, real or fake, will be released on social media, with the threat of paying them if they don’t want it.
This is not the first time Meta has taken down such networks, but it is disclosing its current operation to “raise awareness” among users.