When a young man who was the victim of sex blackmail for money committed suicide last year, his grieving father launched a campaign to help the FBI track down the suspected fraudster on another continent.
of FBI Financial sextortion is defined as “when an offender poses as someone else online and coerces a victim into taking and sending sexually explicit photos or videos of themselves, then immediately demands payment or threatens to expose the photos to the victim’s family and friends.”
A few days after his son’s suicide, his father discovered “suspicious banking transactions” from his son’s Zelle account to an unknown phone number.
In 2023, a young man in Pennsylvania fell victim to a sextortion scam in which he believed he had met a girl on Instagram, Google, and Snapchat, and reportedly had sent her sexually explicit images of himself. USA Today.
However, two men from Nigeria allegedly posed as the girl and extorted money from the young man.
According to court documents, the Nigerian men allegedly sent text messages threatening to make damning documents public and “ruin” the victim’s “career” unless a $1,000 blackmail payment was paid.
“This blackmail scheme [the victim] “This is consistent with a trend of foreign-based organized groups targeting victims in the United States with a variety of sex extortion schemes,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Zenzer wrote.
The victim, identified in court documents only as JS, reportedly told the suspects in a text message, “I don’t think I have enough money.”
Three minutes after sending this message in January 2023, JS committed suicide, according to federal authorities.
Following his son’s tragic death, his father is determined to find the suspect who allegedly drove his son to suicide.
A few days after his son’s suicide, his father discovered “suspicious banking transactions” from his son’s Zelle account to an unknown phone number. He forwarded the information to the FBI, which used the phone number to track down an email address under the name “Antonia Diaz.” The phone number was linked to several other email addresses under different names for “Antonia Diaz,” the FBI said. Fox News.
According to court documents, FBI agents issued subpoenas to Google twice and linked the email addresses to Nigerian phone numbers.
In March 2023, the father logged into his son’s Snapchat account and noticed that JS had received messages from a user named “Alice,” who then sent him messages demanding money.
A Pennsylvania district court judge subpoenaed Snapchat for information about the “Alice” account, which authorities said was linked to a different phone number based in Nigeria.
“JS’s father subsequently checked JS’s Apple iPhone and noticed repeated email notifications from ALICEDAVE660@GMAIL.COM,” court documents state. “JS’s father used his own email account to email the address, claiming to be JS’s father and requesting a phone call. ALICEDAVE660@GMAIL.COM refused to speak to JS’s father via phone and instead instructed JS via iMessage, ‘Respond if you don’t want the hassle.'”
The father then sent screenshots of email correspondence from “Alice” to police.
A few days later, an undercover FBI agent sent “Alice” a friend request on Snapchat, posing as a friend of JS’s, and provided the username of a bank account in the hopes that the scammer would send more money, as the scammer attempted another extortion scheme.
Police authorities have named two suspects in the sextortion scheme, both from Nigeria, Imoreayo Samuel Aina, 26, and Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, 24.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Announced Aina was charged with cyberstalking, interstate threats to defame and receiving the proceeds of extortion.
Both Aina and Abiodun are charged with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.
If convicted on all charges, Aina faces up to life in prison and Abiodun faces up to 40 years in prison.
The suspect was arrested in Nigeria and taken into custody by the FBI on July 31.
On August 2, Aina and Abiodun appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth T. Hay in Federal Magistrate Court in Philadelphia.
According to FBIVictims of financial sextortion are usually males between the ages of 14 and 17, and the scheme can lead to the victim’s suicide.
From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security Investigations received more than 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors. The sextortion schemes involved at least 12,600 victims, most of them juveniles, and led to at least 20 suicides.
In the six-month period from October 2022 to March 2023, reports of financially motivated sextortion increased by 20% compared to the same period last year.
The FBI noted that financially motivated sextortion criminals are typically based outside the United States and are known to operate from West African countries such as Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire, or Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines.
The Blaze News previously reported on a 16-year-old boy from Mississippi who committed suicide in 2023 after being caught up in a sextortion scam.
In 2022, a 17-year-old boy in Michigan committed suicide after becoming the victim of a sex blackmail scheme orchestrated by three Nigerian men.
South Carolina Rep. Brandon Guffey (R-S.C.) lost his 17-year-old son, Gavin Guffey, to suicide in 2022 after being blackmailed for sex.
“The most important thing is [victims] To recognize is to remember that they are victims of a crime,” Guffey said. Fox News“They are not the reason this is happening. Just because they sent an image does not mean they are in trouble. And I always recommend not deleting messages. Instead, take a screenshot and take them offline. Disconnect the account because they will continue to harass you.”
Special Agent Douglas DePodesta of the FBI’s Memphis field office said“The FBI has seen a frightening increase in reports of financial sextortion schemes. Protecting children is one of the FBI’s top priorities. We need parents and guardians to work together to prevent these crimes before they happen and to help their children come forward when they do.”
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