Security News > 2022 > February > Meta and Chime sue Nigerians behind Facebook, Instagram phishing
Meta has filed a joint lawsuit with Chime, a financial technology and digital banking company, against two Nigerian individuals who allegedly used Instagram and Facebook accounts to impersonate Chime and target its users in phishing attacks.
The two defendants, Arafat Eniola Arowokoko and Arowokoko Afeez Opeyemi, presumably used a network of at least five Facebook accounts and over 800 Instagram accounts to impersonate the fintech company, attempting to take over customers' accounts.
With the help of these accounts, they lured potential targets to Chime-branded phishing websites to harvest Chime credentials and hijack the victims' accounts.
These phishing websites prompted users to enter their Chime usernames and passwords to compromise users' Chime member accounts and withdraw funds.
Meta disabled Facebook and Instagram accounts used to impersonate Chine and blocked the phishing websites from its services.
"Nonetheless, Defendants continued to create new Chime-impersonating accounts. In total, between June 5, 2020, and October 22, 2021, Meta disabled more than 800 Facebook and Instagram accounts and blocked phishing websites associated with Defendants and their scheme from being accessed on Facebook and Instagram."