Meta, the Facebook parent company, has filed a Joint lawsuit with digital banking company Chime against two Nigeria-based individuals, in a series of lawsuits filed to protect its users from phishing attacks which have been on the rise since 2020.
In the lawsuit, Meta said that the two defendants in this case were engaging in phishing attacks to deceive people and gain access to their online financial accounts.
The two Nigeria-based individuals were using Facebook and Instagram accounts to impersonate Chime and lure people to fake branded phishing websites with the aim of obtaining their Chime account login information and withdrawing funds.
Meta, which has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, said the defendants used a network of computers to control more than 800 impersonating Instagram accounts and five Facebook accounts, in order to conceal their activity and evade technical enforcement measures.
For those unaware, Phishing attacks are the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to come from a trustworthy source. It is usually done through email. The goal is to steal sensitive data like credit card and login information or install malware on the victim’s machine.
Meta’s director of platform enforcement and litigation Jessica Romero stated in a blog post that “Impersonation scams are a serious challenge, and this action represents a major step forward in cross-industry collaboration against this abuse.”
This is the first joint complaint between Meta and a financial services company. The Fintech Company Chime was launched by former Visa Inc (V.N) executive Chris Britt and Comcast Corp alumnus Ryan King in 2012.
Meta also stated that it has taken several previous actions against the defendants since June 2020 for violating its terms including blocking impersonating domains on its platforms, sending cease and desist letters, and disabling their accounts.
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(Source)
