Goal removes 63,000 Instagram profiles involved in ‘sextortion’ scam

Meta announced today that (24) total were banned 63,000 Instagram profiles involved in ‘sextortion’ scam in Nigeria was primarily committed against adult males in the United States. American teenagers were also targeted by the network.

At the heart of these profiles was a coordinated network of around 2,500 fake accounts run by around 20 people and used to hide their true identities. According to big tech, Its connection to the “Yahoo Boys,” Nigerian cybercriminals who specialize in financial fraud.

The company within the scope of the action It also removed 7,200 assets from Facebook, including 1,300 accounts, 200 pages and 5,700 groups from the social network.is an organization based in the African country that provides tips on online scams. They provide photos for fake profiles as well as instructions on how to scam internet users.

In a type of crime commonly referred to as “sextortion,” cybercriminals pretend to be someone else and contact the target to show a supposed interest. During online flirting, The fake profile encourages the victim to send him nude photos and, once received, threatens to publish them unless he receives money in return.

Tips for avoiding sextortion scams

Although Meta’s investigation concluded: Most scam attempts by banned profiles failedit is important to be careful not to fall for this scam. One of them is to be suspicious of direct messages from people you have never communicated with.

It is also useful to be alert. profiles that send you photos and ask for information from others in return and do not share your personal data with strangers on social networksAnother suggestion is to change the privacy settings of your account.

Meta explains that it is testing a new nudity protection feature for teens that can blur images detected in such content, and also advises the user to be careful when participating in the conversation. There is also stricter messaging settings for minorsare among the targets of sexual blackmail.