In a series of messages on a Telegram channel, put forward by Warner, who is also involved with Intelligence for Good, a cybercriminal can be seen telling others how to run a sextortion scam. They say they tricked people into sharing nude images by posting screenshots of the conversation and explained how other people can replicate them. “Hey, I'm posting your nude photos on social media and Facebook,” says an example message that cybercriminals could use. “I'm not just publishing it, I'm sending copies to your area,” the message said, before demanding $700.
Although such scripts are shared across social media, WIRED found at least 80 of them on the document-sharing service Scribd. The company removed them after WIRED contacted it, with a spokesperson saying there were some. limits on what people can upload and that the company has automated and manual reviews to remove content. “We are actively developing new features to expand the scope of content moderation to include a wider range of text and image violations,” the spokesperson said. Some scripts had been online since 2020, and on the pages where they were removed, a “reading suggestions” section recommended other fraudulent scripts.
Raffile claims that the Yahoo Boys have been able to “thrive” online “thanks to the lack of moderation around all the illicit material” they share. “They act with impunity because they feel they will never be caught,” Raffile explains.
Beyond messaging platforms, Yahoo Boys are present on TikTok and YouTube. “We design our app to be inhospitable to those who seek to exploit our community and we have removed this content for violating our policies,” a TikTok spokesperson said.
“Our policies prohibit spam, scams, or other deceptive practices that take advantage of the YouTube community,” a YouTube spokesperson said. “We also prohibit videos that encourage illegal or dangerous activities. As such, we have terminated channels reported for violating our policies and terms of service. They add that the company has removed accounts for violating policies regarding harmful content, spam, and generally violating its terms of service.
The accounts posted tutorials on how to scam people, link to groups on messaging apps, and promote technology for fake video calls. On TikTok, several accounts include image carousels that scammers can use in their efforts to create believable personas. Some of them include posts from older women for scammers who “need photos of grandma to prove” their fake identities and others for scammers who “need photos of children” for their victims .
In addition to posing a threat to thousands of people around the world, Yahoo Boys can quickly adopt new technologies. David Maimon, a professor at Georgia State University and head of fraud analytics at identity verification company SentiLink, said monitored Yahoo Boys for years and says their techniques have evolved alongside new technologies.
“To establish relationships with victims, fraudsters first used text messages, then began sending recorded audio messages, and finally used deepfake tools to communicate live with victims,” says Maimon. “In some markets we are now also seeing the use of cloned voices. This is now accompanied by sending physical items to victims, such as gifts, food deliveries and flowers. In some groups, they use “nudification” tools to turn photos of clothed people into nude photos, and fake video calls.
Even though the Yahoo Boys have been active for years, all the experts interviewed for this article say they should be treated more seriously by social media companies and law enforcement. “It's time we start looking at Yahoo Boys as a dangerous organization, a transnational organized crime, and start giving it some of those labels,” Raffile says.