Meta has teamed with a financial services company to file a joint lawsuit against two Nigerian individuals for engaging in fraudulent activity, according to a company blog post published Tuesday (Feb. 8).
The individuals had reportedly been conducting phishing attacks to gain access to users’ financial accounts online.
According to the post, the individuals orchestrated phishing attacks between March 2020 and October 2021, in which they lured Facebook and Instagram users to websites which would phish them and compromise their financial accounts.
The defendants made use of a network of computers to control more than 800 accounts on the social media sites, evading technical enforcement measures.
Meta has reportedly taken action against the pair before, including disabling their social media accounts, blocking impersonating domains and sending a cease and desist letter. These efforts are still ongoing, and the blog says this lawsuit will be a “clear signal” that such behavior will not be tolerated.
“Impersonation scams are a serious challenge, and this action represents a major step forward in cross-industry collaboration against this abuse,” the company blog says. “Meta filed this action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging violations of Facebook’s and Instagram’s Terms and Policies.”
Alongside a massive digital shift, IT departments are having a hard time combating cyberattacks and other various types of fraud.
Read more: When It Comes to Payments Fraud, Criminals Are Going Big
As PYMNTS reported last month, the threat of fraud has been on the rise as fraudsters utilize their “tested arsenal” of tools to look for the vulnerable patches of various systems. Phishing was listed as one of the chief ways to do it, and it has continued to evolve for the modern day, the report says.
In addition, hackers have also been using social engineering tricks to try and get users to use fraudulent data and let them access sensitive information.
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More