This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
“All you have to do is cooperate with me and I won’t expose you, if you stop me I will ruin your life.”
It’s one of several threatening messages sent by a Nigerian scammer to a young Pennsylvania man identified in court documents only as JS.
The scammer – who posed as a woman on Instagram, Google and Snapchat – contacted the young man and established an online relationship with him.
They exchanged nude photos online, and then the scammer attacked JS, demanding a blackmail payment of $1,000 from the victim to keep the photos private. The scammer, still posing as a woman, threatened to expose JS’s intimate photos if he didn’t pay the money, and JS took his own life shortly after the blackmailing began.
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The father of a young Pennsylvania man who committed suicide after being the victim of an attempted sexual abuse helped the FBI track down Nigerian suspects charged in the case. (FBI)
The scam that led JS to commit suicide is called “sexrotion,” and it’s becoming increasingly prevalent in the United States, leading to more teen suicides each year since 2020, when the crime spread to social media sites like Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, and other platforms.
“When predators coerce victims into taking and sending sexually explicit photos and videos by posing as someone else online — and then demand immediate payment or threaten to release the photos to the victim’s family and friends — it is known as financially motivated sextortion,” an FBI bulletin about the crime states.
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According to the FBI, sextortion can also be financially motivated, as was the case in this case.
According to federal authorities, JS’s father helped the FBI track down scammers who extorted money from his son.
Nigerians Imolayo Samuel Aina, Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, and Afeze Olatunji Adewale have been charged in connection with this extortion scheme. Aina and Abiodun have been extradited from Nigeria to the United States. The three are accused of coordinating to target the victim and trick him into sending money to their fraudulent bank accounts.
According to court documents, Anna threatened the victim that she would ruin his “career” if he didn’t pay the suspect as blackmail.
JS’s father contacted the scammer who pushed his son to suicide, and took screenshots of the suspect’s responses. (Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
According to court documents, JS said in one message to the suspect, “I don’t think I have enough money for this.” Federal authorities reported that he died by suicide just three minutes after sending that message in January 2023.
In the days following the man’s death, his father discovered “suspicious banking transactions” from JS’s Zelle account to an unknown phone number. He sent this information to the FBI, which found an email address with a female name — Antonia Diaz — linked to the phone number. That phone number was linked to several other email addresses using different variations of the name “Antonia Diaz.”
Court documents show that after issuing two subpoenas to Google, FBI agents were able to link various email addresses to a phone number in Nigeria.
Adewale later told authorities that all emails bearing the name “Antonia Diaz” or “Antonia Andy” were “personas” from his online romance scam. According to authorities, he was in communication with a real person named Antonia Diaz from 2022 to May 2023.
“During the communication, (Antonia) Diaz sent Adewale a copy of her New York State identification card, U.S. passport and Social Security card.”
“Adewale stated that Diaz provided him with access to bank accounts. According to Adewale, he reset the password to Diaz’s Bank of America account and also helped Diaz open a new account at an undisclosed bank,” court documents state.
South Carolina Senator Brandon Guffey, who lost his 17-year-old son, Gavin Guffey, to suicide due to sextortion, told Fox News Digital that these scammers target young women in similar schemes in exchange for their account information and intimate photos, which they can then use in financially motivated sextortion schemes involving male victims. In other words, just because a Nigerian man may be posing as a young American woman online doesn’t mean he’s using fake photos.
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Adewale, Aina, and Abiodun are part of a group of sextortion scammers known in Nigeria as “Yahoo Boys.”
In March 2023, two months after his son’s death, JS’s father logged into his Snapchat account and noticed that his son was receiving messages from a user named “Alice.” JS’s father messaged the user, who demanded money.
In March 2023, two months after his son’s death, JS’s father logged into his Snapchat account and noticed that his son was receiving messages from a user named “Alice.” JS’s father messaged the user, who demanded money. (Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
A Pennsylvania District Court judge subpoenaed Snapchat for records relating to the “Alice” Snapchat account, which was linked to another Nigerian phone number.
“JS’s father later reviewed JS’s Apple iPhone and discovered that email notifications were repeatedly coming from ALICEDAVE660@GMAIL.COM,” the court documents state. “JS’s father sent an email to that address using his own email account, identifying himself as JS’s father and requesting a phone call. ALICEDAVE660@GMAIL.COM refused to speak to JS’s father by phone and instead instructed via iMessage that JS ‘respond to me if he doesn’t want trouble.’”
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JS’s father then sent authorities screenshots of communications from “Alice’s” email. On March 30 of that year, an undercover FBI employee (“UCE”) sent a friend request to “Alice” on Snapchat and eventually got the account to share various bank account usernames, thinking the undercover employee was a friend of JS who would send more money.
Guffey said that when a sextortion victim realizes he or she has fallen victim to such a scheme, the “most important thing” for them to do is “not send the money.”
“Once you send the money, (the fraudsters) know they have you in their clutches, and the cycle will never stop.”
“The most important thing for victims to remember is that they are victims of a crime,” the South Carolina state senator said. “They are not responsible for the incident. They are not in trouble because they sent a picture. And then I always recommend not deleting the messages. Instead, screenshot them and go offline. Disconnect your account because they will continue to harass you.”
Brandon Guffey (right) is highlighting the dangers of sextortion after his son Gavin (second from right) committed suicide last year. (Brandon Guffey)
Teen boys are increasingly being targeted in online ‘sextortion’ schemes, FBI warns
Victims of sextortion schemes should not be afraid to ask for help from their parents or law enforcement. As this crime becomes more common, there is more help available to assist victims of sextortion.
Last month, Meta released new information about its efforts to combat sextortion scandals coming out of Nigeria, and in particular, about “yahoo boys” on the tech giant’s various social media apps, including Instagram.
The company said it has removed nearly 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria that were attempting to target people with a financial sextortion scam on Meta apps, including a coordinated network of about 2,500 accounts.
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It also removed nearly 7,200 assets, including 1,300 Nigeria-based Facebook accounts, 200 Facebook pages and 5,700 Facebook groups that were publishing fraudulent tips on Meta’s platforms.
A new feature called Nudity Protection on Instagram, which will be on by default for users under the age of 18, will blur nude photos sent via direct messages (DMs) on the app, and send a message to the user when the app detects nudity in their DMs. (Meta)
Meta also recently unveiled New security on Instagram It aims to prevent sextortion schemes.
FBI receives over 13,000 reports of online financial fraud At least 12,600 victims sexually abused Between October 2021 to March 2023.
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The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has launched a free service called Take It Down, which aims to help victims of sextortion delete explicit photos of victims or prevent bad actors from sharing them online. The tool can be accessed here https://takeitdown.ncmec.org.
The FBI encourages anyone who believes they may be a victim of sextortion, or knows someone who may be, to contact them immediately. local law enforcement or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or online at tips.fbi.gov.
