Predators from Nigeria have been targeting children and teenagers on Instagram, trying to get sensitive photos and videos from them, with which they can later blackmail them.
At first glance, it may not seem like it, but Instagram is also a haven for many sexual predators who quietly lie in wait for their potential victims. Predators create fake profiles in which they pretend to be younger and attractive in order to attract or convince of their authenticity, especially younger victims. They then search for users based on their public posts, hashtags and comments. The most common victims are children and teenagers who routinely share their personal information and are thus very vulnerable. As part of their sophisticated methods, predators attack their victims slowly to first build their trust and friendship. They may pretend to have similar interests in order to lure minors to their side and then manipulate them.
When manipulating victims, they often offer emotional support or various small gifts. Later, their inhibitions fall from the victims, they start demanding intimate photos and videos, with which they then start blackmailing them. Instagram has now identified and blocked up to 63,000 such accounts. As its parent company Meta said on its blog, the accounts mostly originated in Nigeria and the predators were targeting sexual extortion. Meta refers to the group that operated in coordination as the “Yahoo Boys.” The firm also said it blocked 5,700 Facebook groups where scammers exchanged tips on how to catch victims.
Source: vat.pravda.sk
