Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has launched a major crackdown on ‘Yahoo Boys,’ deleting thousands of Nigerian accounts involved in financial sextortion scams.
The company removed accounts, including a coordinated network of around 2,500 accounts. It revealed this in a report entitled, ‘Combating Financial Sextortion Scams From Nigeria,’
noting that financial sextortion is a horrific crime that can have devastating consequences.
Read also: Meta deletes 63,000 Nigerian Instagram accounts scamming people
The tech giant highlighted that it removed a set of Facebook accounts, pages, and groups run by ‘Yahoo Boys’ under its ‘Dangerous Organisations and Individuals policy.’
Yahoo boys are online fraudsters whose moniker originated from the email service, Yahoo, which became popular in Nigeria in the 2000s. These scammers are the successors of 419 fraudsters, who used to promise to help strangers get rich through letters and later emails for an advance fee.
A Bloomberg Businessweek exposé in April highlighted the rise of financial sextortion in the US, tracing many scams to Nigeria. Meta explained that financial sextortion is a borderless crime, increasingly driven by the activities of Yahoo Boys, whom it described as loosely organised cybercriminals operating primarily out of Nigeria and specialising in various scams.
Meta has removed 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria linked to financial sextortion scams, including a coordinated network of around 2,500 accounts tied to a group of about 20 individuals.
These scammers primarily targeted adult men in the US, using fake accounts to conceal their identities. Meta used a combination of new technical signals and in-depth investigations by its expert teams to identify and remove these accounts.
Read also: Timeline of Nigeria’s Meta $220 million case
“The majority of these accounts had already been detected and disabled by our enforcement systems, and this investigation allowed us to remove the remaining accounts and understand more about the techniques being used to improve our automated detection,” the tech giant said.
It noted that most of the scammers’ attempts were unsuccessful and primarily targeted adults, though they also attempted to target minors. These accounts have been reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
“Since these criminals don’t limit themselves to any one platform, we also share relevant information with other tech companies through the Tech Coalition’s Lantern program, so they can take action too,” Meta highlighted.
In addition to removing Instagram accounts, Meta’s efforts led to the removal of around 7,200 assets, including 1,300 Facebook accounts, 200 Facebook pages, and 5,700 Facebook groups based in Nigeria. These accounts provided tips for conducting scams, offering to sell scripts and guides for scamming, and sharing links to photo collections for fake accounts. Meta noted that its systems identify and automatically block attempts by these deleted groups to return.
“While these investigations and disruptions are critical, they’re just one part of our approach. We continue to support law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting these crimes, including by responding to valid legal requests for information and by alerting them when we become aware of someone at risk of imminent harm, in accordance with our terms of service and applicable law,” Meta stated.
This crackdown comes as Meta faces increased scrutiny over its operations in Nigeria.
The Nigerian agency, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), has accused the tech giant of ‘abusive and invasive practices’ against the country’s users through its WhatsApp platform, demanding a $220 million fine. Meta is set to appeal this.
Authorities and operators have recently intensified their efforts to crack down on cybercrime.
Ola Olukoyede, chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), recently announced that the agency had secured 500 convictions in cybercrimes.
In July, the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) announced that it dismantled a Nigerian network involved in money mule recruitment and laundering funds from online financial fraud victims across Europe. The operation identified more than 25 syndicate members and was part of a global law enforcement effort targeting West African organised crime groups, including Black Axe. This led to hundreds of arrests, seizure of assets worth $3 million, and the dismantling of multiple criminal networks around the world.
