Sextortion scam: FBI arrests 22 Nigerians linked to rising teen suicides, details surface

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The FBI has arrested 22 Nigerians successful transportation with a planetary sextortion strategy blamed for implicit 20 teen suicides successful the U.S. since 2021
Operation Artemis, a first-of-its-kind planetary effort involving instrumentality enforcement agencies from Nigeria, Canada, Australia, and the U.K., led to these arrests
In a statement, the FBI revealed the affectional devastation caused by these crimes, noting that contempt victims' payments, threats often persisted, starring to suicides

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has implicit 2 years of acquisition covering governmental parties and movements.

The FBI has arrested 22 Nigerians allegedly progressive successful a financially motivated sextortion strategy that has been blamed for much than 20 teen suicides successful the United States since 2021.

FBI arrests 22 Nigerians for sextortion scam linked to rising teen suicides

The bureau announced successful a connection shared connected its website connected Thursday, April 24, 2025.

In the report, the arrests were portion of a first-of-its-kind planetary operation, codenamed Artemis, conducted successful collaboration with instrumentality enforcement agencies successful Canada, Australia, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom.

As reported by The Punch, the FBI launched Operation Artemis astir 2 years agone aft receiving thousands of reports of teen boys being coerced into sharing sexually explicit photos online and past extorted with threats of vulnerability unless they paid.

“As a effect of Operation Artemis, FBI investigations led to the apprehension of 22 Nigerian subjects, with astatine slightest 1 apprehension linked to an American unfortunate who took their ain life,” the FBI stated.

In these sextortion schemes, minors, typically boys, are befriended online by individuals posing arsenic young women who transportation them to speech nude photos.

Once the victims comply, they are demanded to nonstop money to forestall the images from being shared.

Investigators noted that adjacent erstwhile victims pay, the demands often persist, and threats escalate.

“Analysis of victims’ phones and societal media accounts revealed heartbreaking narratives of young kids enduring panicked negotiations successful bids to support their privacy,” the FBI said.

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported implicit 34,000 sextortion victims successful 2023, rising to much than 54,000 past year, with fiscal losses totaling astir $65 cardinal implicit the past 2 years.

Sextortion scheme: Suspects speaks astir their motives

As reported by The Cable, successful Nigeria, FBI Special Agent Matthew Crowley interviewed suspects to recognize their motives for choosing sextortion implicit different fiscal scams, specified arsenic romance fraud oregon concern email compromise.

“One taxable said, ‘It’s casual money. I tin conscionable determination connected to the adjacent 1 if I don’t get immoderate traction,” Crowley reported.

She added:

“It makes consciousness wherefore they would spell that way due to the fact that they could people 40 victims successful a time moving aggregate astatine a time. And possibly of those 40, 3 pay. But if 3 paid $200, that’s $600.”

American kills aforesaid implicit sextortion threats

The devastating interaction of these schemes was underscored by an American begetter whose 16-year-old lad died by termination successful 2023 aft sextortion threats.

“Everything that helium loved, each assemblage ambition helium had, each miss helium liked, each person helium had—those things were each threatened close then,” the begetter said. “Imagine idiosyncratic walking into your location successful the mediate of the nighttime and shooting your son. Well, this idiosyncratic did thing adjacent worse than that. He frightened him truthful atrocious that helium changeable himself.”

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Alleged $3.3m fraud: FBI arrests apical Nigerian person successful US

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the Anambra state authorities has distanced itself from Franklin Nwadialo, the recently elected president of Ogbaru LGA, who was arrested successful the US by the FBI for allegedly perpetrating a $3.3 cardinal romance scam.

Law Mefor, the state's commissioner for information, said Nwadialo is not a nonstop appointee of Governor Soludo.

Mefor said the Anambra authorities authorities won't support him conscionable arsenic an APGA chieftain speaks connected the adjacent governmental measurement that whitethorn beryllium taken successful the lack of the embattled LGA chair.

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Source: Legit.ng

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