Meta removed tens of thousands of Instagram accounts and Facebook groups linked to “sextortion,” a type of blackmail whereby the scammers threaten to expose sexual images of individuals if they are not paid ransoms.
“Their efforts included offering to sell scripts and guides to use when scamming people, and sharing links to collections of photos to use when populating fake accounts,” Meta said.
Meta said its systems have been identifying and automatically blocking attempts from these groups to become active again on the popular platforms.
Even though the majority of scammers mostly targeted adults, some of them also targeted minors, the company said. Meta has reported the relevant accounts to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Trapping Minors
Meta’s purge of Nigerian sextortion accounts follows a January 2024 report claiming that Instagram was one of the most common platforms used for such crimes.“Reports submitted by Instagram constitute a clear majority of all reports of apparent sextortion submitted to NCMEC,” the report said, while suggesting that other platforms could be underreporting the issue.
When the feature is turned on, anyone who sends sexually explicit images will see a cautionary message.
Predators identify and target children through mostly social media platforms, livestreaming, online games, and messaging apps. Their typical modus operandi includes creating fake profiles of teenage girls. Sometimes, the predators may hack actual accounts that are known to their targets.
According to the FBI, a sextortion crime starts when young people are fooled into believing they are in communication with a stranger who is of similar age and interested in a relationship. Sometimes, the victim may be led to believe that the stranger is offering something of value.
Once the predators get one or more pictures or videos, they threaten to publish the content or commit violence, making the victims produce more such content.
“The shame, fear, and confusion children feel when they are caught in this cycle often prevents them from asking for help or reporting the abuse. Caregivers and young people should understand how the crime occurs and openly discuss online safety,” the agency said.
The FBI advises individuals affected by sextortion scams to report the predators’ accounts via the platform’s safety feature and block them. The predators’ profiles and messages they sent should be saved so that law enforcement can easily identify them.
Predators are located mostly outside the United States, in West African nations such as Nigeria or Ivory Coast, and in Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines, the FBI stated.
