Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has taken strong action against the “Yahoo Boys” scam group by removing 63,000 accounts. This major cleanup was detailed in Meta’s Q1 2024 Adversarial Threat Report.
The Yahoo Boys group is known for running financial sextortion scams and blackmailing people. Meta’s advanced technical systems and thorough investigations identified and shut down these accounts. A smaller group of 2,500 accounts, controlled by around 20 individuals, mainly targeted adult men in the U.S. using fake identities.
Most scam attempts were unsuccessful, but some targeted minors. These cases were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Meta has also shared information with other tech companies to help stop these scams across different platforms.
In Nigeria, Meta removed about 7,200 scam-related assets, including Facebook accounts, pages, and groups that were sharing scam resources and fake photos. Meta’s systems are now better at blocking these groups from coming back.
Meta is working with law enforcement to support investigations and prosecutions. The company has also made its messaging settings stricter for users under 16 (under 18 in some countries) and displays safety notices to encourage careful online behavior.
Recently, Meta was fined $220 million by Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for breaking data protection laws. Meta plans to appeal this decision, disagreeing with the findings and the penalty. The FCCPC wants to ensure fair treatment of Nigerian users and compliance with local laws.
The company explained,
“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,” the social media giant stated.
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,”
“We also fund and support NCMEC and the International Justice Mission to run Project Boost, a program that trains law enforcement agencies around the world in processing and acting on NCMEC reports.
“We’ve conducted several training sessions so far, including in Nigeria and the Cote d’Ivoire, with our most recent session taking place just last month,” the firm revealed.
