Johnathan Walker:Sextortion scams run by Nigerian criminals are targeting American men, Meta says

FBI warns parents as sextortion cases involving minors surge

So-called sextortion scams are on the rise, with criminals from Nigeria frequently targeting adult men in the U.S., according to social media giant Meta. 

Meta on Wednesday said it has removed about 63,000 accounts from Nigeria that had been attempting to target people with financial sextortion scams. In such scams, criminals pretend to be someone else, typically an attractive woman, in an attempt to trick potential victims into sending nude photos of themselves. Upon receiving nude pics, the scammer then threatens to release the photos unless the sender pays up. 

Meta's crackdown on sextortion has included the removal of 200 Facebook pages and 5,700 Facebook groups, all from Nigeria, that were providing tips for conducting such scams, such as scripts for talking with victims. The groups also included links to collections of photos that scammers could use when making fake accounts to catfish victims, Meta said. 

Meta is also testing new technology that could steer victims away from falling for sextortion scams, such as a new auto-blur feature in Instagram DMs that will blur images if nudity is detected, the company said. 

"First of all, this goes without saying that financial sextortion is a horrific crime and can have devastating consequences," said Antigone Davis, Meta's global head of safety, in a call with reporters. "It's why we are particularly focused on it right now."

The most common platforms for sextortion scams are Instagram, owned by Meta, and Snapchat, according to a recent study from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Thorn, a nonprofit that uses technology to battle the spread of child sexual abuse material. According to the study, most sextortion scams originate from either Nigeria or Cote d'Ivoire. 

Indiscriminate scammers

Meta said it found that scammers are "indiscriminate," sending requests to many individuals in order to get a few responses, Davis said. While most of the attempts were sent to adult men in the U.S., Meta did see some scammers trying to reach teens, she added. 

Some of the Facebook accounts, pages and groups removed by Meta were run by the Yahoo Boys, a loose federation of scammers that operate in Nigeria, Davis said. 

The FBI has sought to highlight the issue of financial sextortion scams targeting teenagers, with the agency noting that at least 20 children who were victims of these scams had died by suicide. Many victims feel fear, embarrassment and concerns about long-term consequences, according to the Thorn and NCMEC report. 

Social media users should be cautious if an account with a "very stylized, especially good-looking" photo reaches out to them or asks to exchange messages, Davis said. "If you have never been messaged by this person before, that should give you pause," she added.

"If somebody sends you an image first, that is often to try to bait you to send an image second, or try to gain trust and build trust," Davis noted. "This is one of those areas where if you have any suspicion, I would urge caution."

Social media users should also look at their privacy settings for messaging, she recommended. For instance, people can control their Facebook Messenger settings to filter the people from whom they can receive messages, such as blocking people other than their Facebook friends. 

In:
• Sextortion
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Meta

Aimee Picchi

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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