Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has removed 63,000 accounts associated with notorious “Yahoo Boys” Scam groups. The company announced in it’s Q1 2024 Adversarial threat report on Wednesday.
The accounts, deleted over the past few weeks were used for financial Sextortion scams and distributing blackmail scripts. Meta reported that a smaller network of 2,500 accounts linked to around 20 individuals, primarily targeted adult men in the United States using fake identities.
Meta said it identified and disabled these accounts through a combination of advanced technical signals and comprehensive investigation enhancing it’s automated detection system.
“Financial Sextortion is a borderless crime, fueled in recent years by the increased activity of Yahoo Boys, loosely organized cyber criminals operating largely out of Nigeria that specialize in different types of scams”. The social media giant stated
“We have removed around 63,000 accounts in Nigeria attempting to target people with financial Sextortion scams including a coordinated network of around 2,500 accounts” He added
“We have removed a set of Facebook accounts, pages and groups run by Yahoo Boys – Banned under our Dangerous and individual policy- That were attempting to organize, recruit and train new scammers” The company explained
