{"id":28102,"date":"2024-07-26T03:57:25","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T07:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=28102"},"modified":"2024-07-26T03:57:25","modified_gmt":"2024-07-26T07:57:25","slug":"instagram-removes-63000-sextortion-accounts-in-nigeria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/07\/26\/instagram-removes-63000-sextortion-accounts-in-nigeria\/","title":{"rendered":"Instagram removes 63,000 sextortion accounts in Nigeria"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\"><b class=\"ssrcss-1xjjfut-BoldText e5tfeyi3\">Instagram owner Meta says it has removed thousands of accounts in Nigeria that were trying to target people in sextortion schemes.<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Such scammers typically pose as young women online to trick people into sending sexually explicit material before blackmailing them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Victims of sextortion crimes have taken their own lives due to the stress, stigma and shame felt after being scammed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Meta said in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2024\/07\/combating-financial-sextortion-scams-from-nigeria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blogpost<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday it had removed about 63,000 accounts that tried to engage with the scams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Financial sextortion is a horrific crime that can have devastating consequences,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The company said it also took down 5,700 Facebook groups in which scammers were offering tips on how to scam people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Experts and authorities have previously warned social media users to remain aware and alert of the scam&#8217;s dangers\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-68918550\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">amid their apparent rise<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In May, 16-year-old Murray Dowey from Dunblane\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cekkr4lvl82o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">took his own life after being targeted by criminals<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">And the BBC found\u00a0<a class=\"ssrcss-f6h2dj-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cp00y03q93mo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sextortion guides being sold on social media platforms<\/a>\u00a0in May.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Perpetrators of sextortion scams present themselves to a user online as a potential romantic interest with the aim of getting them to send explicit or intimate images of themselves &#8211; often by sending a nude image first and asking for one in return.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Senders are then threatened with having their intimate images circulated publicly unless they send payment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-12l5xzx-LinksComponentWrapper e3eyuya0\" data-component=\"links-block\">\n<section class=\"ssrcss-msolhr-LinksWrapper e3eyuya5\">\n<ul class=\"ssrcss-mh3hvv-InContentLinksGrid e3eyuya3\" role=\"list\">\n<li class=\"ssrcss-r2yl4r-PromoItem e3eyuya1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nw19pv-Promo e1vyq2e80\" data-testid=\"promo\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1enzf19-PromoCompact e18gnqux0\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1d68cot-PromoContent exn3ah99\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1f3bvyz-Stack e1y4nx260\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-15dlehh-PromoHeadline exn3ah96\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c2llzppyx05o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span aria-hidden=\"false\">Dead in 6 hours: How Nigerian sextortion scammers targeted my son<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ssrcss-r2yl4r-PromoItem e3eyuya1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nw19pv-Promo e1vyq2e80\" data-testid=\"promo\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1enzf19-PromoCompact e18gnqux0\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1d68cot-PromoContent exn3ah99\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1f3bvyz-Stack e1y4nx260\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-15dlehh-PromoHeadline exn3ah96\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/videos\/cy66q5470n5o\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span aria-hidden=\"false\">\u2018It\u2019s not worth taking your life over sextortion\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"ssrcss-r2yl4r-PromoItem e3eyuya1\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-nw19pv-Promo e1vyq2e80\" data-testid=\"promo\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1enzf19-PromoCompact e18gnqux0\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1d68cot-PromoContent exn3ah99\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-1f3bvyz-Stack e1y4nx260\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-15dlehh-PromoHeadline exn3ah96\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/world-64720239\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span aria-hidden=\"false\">\u2018My stolen image was used to con men out of thousands\u2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-19w8cxh-ComponentWrapper-HeadlineComponentWrapper egtrm1f0\" data-component=\"subheadline-block\">\n<h2 id=\"Yahoo-boys\" class=\"ssrcss-1ipj56t-Heading e10rt3ze0\" tabindex=\"-1\"><span role=\"text\">&#8216;Yahoo boys&#8217;<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ssrcss-uf6wea-RichTextComponentWrapper ep2nwvo0\" data-component=\"text-block\">\n<div class=\"ssrcss-7uxr49-RichTextContainer e5tfeyi1\">\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Meta said on Wednesday that the accounts it disrupted and removed for engaging in sextortion attempts had links to a wider, informal network of cybercriminals operating in Nigeria, known as &#8220;Yahoo Boys&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The fraudsters are included on the tech giant&#8217;s list of dangerous organisations and individuals that are banned from using its platforms to carry out their activities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The company says it uses a combination of different technologies to identify accounts that may be engaging in sextortion scams or attempts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">These include automatically blurring nude images sent to users in messages and presenting them with a message saying they do not have to respond and letting them instantly block the sender and report the chat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">As part of new tools <a href=\"https:\/\/about.fb.com\/news\/2024\/04\/new-tools-to-help-protect-against-sextortion-and-intimate-image-abuse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">it\u00a0announced in April<\/a>\u00a0Meta said will not display the \u201cmessage\u201d button on a teen\u2019s profile to accounts it has believes could be engaging in sextortion attempts, even if the accounts have already connected with each other.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/cd1jpdg4endo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\">Instagram owner Meta says it has removed thousands of accounts in Nigeria that were trying to target people in sextortion schemes. Such scammers typically pose as young women online to trick people into sending sexually <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2024\/07\/26\/instagram-removes-63000-sextortion-accounts-in-nigeria\/\" title=\"Instagram removes 63,000 sextortion accounts in Nigeria\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[6668,335,305,3190,8355,2349,10388,10532],"class_list":{"0":"post-28102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-world","9":"tag-cyber-criminals","10":"tag-facebook","11":"tag-fraud","12":"tag-instagram","13":"tag-meta","14":"tag-nigeria","15":"tag-sextortion","16":"tag-yahoo-boys","17":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28103,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28102\/revisions\/28103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}