Meta rescinds job offer after expert links Instagram to ‘sextortion’ of minors

A digital security expert said Meta rescinded a job offer after he hosted a webinar on sextortion of minors that mentioned the company’s subsidiary, Instagram, as a haven for such schemes.

Paul Raffile said Meta recruited him to lead its Human Exploitation investigations. His job was to “prevent real-world harm from crimes like sextortion and trafficking.”

“But moments after hosting a webinar to combat the surge of sextortion targeting minors, and hearing from the parents of children who were killed by this crime, I got the phone call rescinding my offer,” he said.  

Meta reportedly sought his advice after he exposed how cybercriminals use a large network of fake Instagram accounts to blackmail tens of thousands of teens with sextortion schemes, driving dozens of victims to suicide. 

“Yet they rescinded the offer evidently for this same exact reason. Feels like retaliation,” said Raffile on LinkedIn. 

The FBI warned in January that from “October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received over 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors. The sextortion involved at least 12,600 victims – primarily boys – and led to at least 20 suicides.” 

Raffile’s LinkedIn post includes a screen shot of an email allegedly from Meta’s Core Business and Operations Recruiting, with the name and email of the sender redacted. 

“Hi Paul, Following up from our phone conversation to confirm your offer of employment at Meta has been rescinded effective immediately. Thank you for your interest. Cheers, Bobby.” 

From his LinkedIn credentials, Raffile appears highly qualified and experienced in digital security. 

He was a senior consultant in the Global Defense Group for Booz Allen Hamilton and has a B.A. in Global Studies, B.S. in National Security Studies and B.S. in Criminal Justice from University of New Haven, as well as a master’s degree from Harvard, according to his LinkedIn profile.  

His master’s degree and a qualification from the FBI in “Integrated Analyst Methodologies,” are both certified by LinkedIn. 

But as he mentioned, he’s also been a lead actor in exposing the sextortion cases.  

Just days after the FBI released its warning about sextortion schemes, a report by Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) showed “sextortion [as] the fastest growing crime targeting children in North America and Australia.”  

The sextortion study was co-led by Raffile, who is listed as Senior Intelligence Analyst at NCRI.  

“Cybercriminals are using fake social media accounts to coerce victims, almost all of 

them boys, into sharing an explicit photo,” said the NCRI report. “As soon as the criminal receives the photo, they threaten to (and sometimes do) expose the photo to the victim’s friends, family, and followers unless a ransom is paid. These criminals employ ruthless tactics to intimidate their victims, inflicting lasting trauma and immense distress – which has led to more than 21 youth suicides.” 

The report found that nearly all the cases are coming from a West African criminal gang called the Yahoo Boys. 

The attacks mostly target boys on Instagram, Snapchat and Wizz apps, but the gang distributes how-to-videos for would-be extortionist via TikTok, YouTube and Scribd, said the report.   

“There may be some legal processes happening so I’m unable to comment about the Meta employment issue at this time,” said Raffile, when contacted by The Lion about his post.  

The Lion sent inquiries to three senior recruitment managers at Meta for comment about Raffile’s allegations, which remain unanswered.