Meta Platforms Inc., which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has removed 63,000 bogus accounts. These accounts belonged to a scam group known as “Yahoo Boys.” The corporation made the announcement in its most recent report.
They discovered these accounts in recent weeks and used them to deceive others and propagate malicious blackmailing tools. Meta also discovered a smaller group of 2,500 accounts managed by approximately 20 persons who attempted to deceive adult men in the United States by pretending to be someone else.
Meta used sophisticated technology and comprehensive inspections to locate and close these bogus accounts, and their system has improved its ability to detect scams.
“Yahoo Boys” are primarily from Nigeria and engage in numerous online frauds. Meta eliminated over 63,000 such accounts from Nigeria. They also shut down the Facebook accounts, pages, and groups used by these scammers to gather additional victims, recruit, and train new scammers.
The majority of the scam efforts failed, but a few targeted children, and Meta reported these incidents to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. Meta also collaborates with other tech companies through a program called Tech Coalition’s Lantern to combat scams across several platforms.
Meta closed over 7,200 locations in Nigeria that disseminated fraudulent methods and false photos to create fake profiles. Since then, they have been successful in preventing these scammers from returning and continue to improve their detection abilities.
Meta assists and supports the police by giving information required for investigations and alerts about dangerous threats. They also help to operate Project Boost, a program that teaches police officers around the world how to handle these instances. They have held training sessions in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire.
To keep young users safe, they have implemented stricter messaging rules for individuals under the age of 16 (or 18, in some cases), as well as issued warnings to encourage safe online behavior.
Nigeria recently fined Meta $220 million for allegedly breaking data protection regulations via WhatsApp. They said it shared user data without consent and did not treat everyone equally. Meta does not agree with these statements and intends to contest the ruling.