By Elizabeth Culliford

(Reuters) – Facebook parent Meta Platforms announced Tuesday that it has filed a joint suit with Chime, a digital bank company, against two individuals based in Nigeria who participated in phishing attacks and gained access to people’s online financial accounts.

This lawsuit is Meta’s first joint suit against a financial service company. It alleges that defendants created fake Instagram and Facebook accounts in order to pretend to be Chime. They also tried to lure users to phishing sites with the intention of getting their Chime login details and withdrawing funds.

Meta filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California. Meta stated that defendants controlled more than 800 Instagram accounts impersonating them and five Facebook accounts to conceal their activity.

Reuters couldn’t immediately reach the defendants to provide comment.

Jessica Romero, Meta’s platform enforcement director and litigation said that impersonation scams pose a significant challenge and that this action is a major step towards cross-industry collaboration to combat this abuse.

Chime is a fintech startup founded by ex-CEO Visa Inc Chris Britt (NYSE:), executive, and Comcast Corp. Reuters exclusive last month reported that Chime asked Goldman Sachs, (NYSE:), to assist it in IPO preparations.

Meta claimed that it had previously taken numerous actions against defendants, starting in June 2020. These included disabling their accounts, blocking impersonating sites on its platforms and writing cease and desist letters.