Meta removes 63,000 accounts belonging to Nigerian ‘Yahoo Boys’

Meta Platforms Inc. (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) announced on Wednesday the removal of 63,000 accounts associated with the Nigerian cybercrime scene, which were engaged in financial sextortion scams targeting users in the United States.

In its Q1 2024 Adversarial Threat Report on Wednesday, Meta stated that the removed accounts also included a smaller coordinated network of approximately 2,500 accounts, which were linked to a group of about 20 individuals.

“They targeted primarily adult men in the U.S. and used fake accounts to mask their identities,” Meta said.

The company also stated that it identified and disabled these accounts using advanced technical signals and thorough investigations, thereby enhancing its automated detection systems.

“Financial sextortion is a borderless crime, fueled in recent years by the increased activity of Yahoo Boys, loosely organised cybercriminals operating largely out of Nigeria that specialize in different types of scams,” Meta said.

It added, “We’ve removed around 63,000 accounts in Nigeria attempting to target people with financial sextortion scams, including a coordinated network of around 2,500 accounts.”

“We’ve also removed a set of Facebook accounts, pages, and groups run by Yahoo Boys—banned under our Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy—that were attempting to organize, recruit and train new scammers.”

Meta’s global head of safety, Antigone Davis, further explained that while most of the attempts targeted adults and were unsuccessful, there were also reports involving minors, which were referred to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

“While our investigation showed that the majority of these scammers’ attempts were unsuccessful and mostly targeted adults, we did see some attempts to target minors,” David said.

Furthermore, Meta announced the removal of approximately 7,200 assets in Nigeria, which included 1,300 Facebook accounts, 200 pages, and 5,700 groups involved in disseminating scam-related resources.