Meta says it has removed over 63,000 Facebook accounts in Nigeria that were involved in financial sextortion scams, as well as groups and sites attempting to organize, attract, and teach new criminals.
Meta Takes Down Thousands Of Facebook Accounts Running Sextortion Scams From Nigeria
Sexual extortion, often known as sextortion, is the practice of enticing someone to transmit graphic photos online and then threatening to make the images public unless the victim pays money or does sexual favors. Recent high-profile incidents include two Nigerian brothers who pleaded guilty to sexually extorting teenage boys and young men in Michigan, one of whom committed suicide, and a Virginia sheriff’s officer who sexually extorted and kidnapped a 15-year-old girl.
There has been a significant increase in sextortion cases in recent years, fuelled in part by a loosely organized group known as the Yahoo Boys, which operates primarily in Nigeria, they said, adding that it has removed Facebook accounts and groups run by the group under its “dangerous organisations and individuals” policy.
Meta Takes Down Thousands Of Facebook Accounts Running Sextortion Scams From Nigeria
In January, the FBI warned of a “huge increase” in sextortion instances involving juveniles. The intended victims are mostly boys between the ages of 14 and 17, although the FBI says any child can be a victim.
The company stated that its investigation discovered that the bulk of the fraudsters’ attempts failed and largely targeted adult men in the United States, but it did find “some” attempts to target minors, which Meta notified the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
In April, They announced the launch of new Instagram capabilities to safeguard young people and against sexual extortion, including a feature that automatically blurs nudity in direct messaging. Meta is still evaluating the features as part of its campaign to combat sexual fraud and other sorts of “image abuse,” as well as making it more difficult for criminals to contact teenagers.
SOURCE | AP
