Meta removes 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria over 'sextortion' scams

Meta on Wednesday said it has removed 63,000 Instagram accounts linked to sextortion scams from Nigeria, days after authorities in the West African country slapped a $220 million fine on the company, Report informs via AFP.

The deleted accounts included a network of 2,500 profiles traced to a group of 20 people.

Some 1,300 Facebook accounts, 200 Facebook Pages and 5,700 Facebook Groups originating from the country were also removed for “providing tips for conducting scams”.

Gangs run sextortion scams by pretending to be members of the opposite sex and persuading people to provide explicit images of themselves and then threatening to release them to the public unless their victims send them money.

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

It blamed “Yahoo Boys”, a Nigerian slang for internet fraudsters, for the scam accounts.

The social media giant explained that while the majority of the attempts by scammers were unsuccessful and mostly focused on adult victims, they have also targeted minors.