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Grief-stricken father launches personal crusade to help FBI find suspects whose sextortion plot led to son's suicide
When a young man committed suicide last year after falling victim to a financially motivated sextortion plot, his grief-stricken father went on a crusade to help the FBI track down the scamming suspects on another continent.The FBI defines financially motivated sextortion as: "When predators pose as someone else online to coerce victims into taking and sending sexually explicit photos and videos — and then immediately demand payment or threaten to release the photo to the victim’s family and friends."Within days of his son's suicide, the father discovered "suspicious banking transactions" to an unknown phone number from his son's Zelle account. In 2023, a young Pennsylvania man fell victim to a financially motivated sextortion scheme. He allegedly believed he had met a girl online on Instagram, Google, and Snapchat. He reportedly sent the girl sexually explicit images of himself, according to USA Today. But two men from Nigeria purportedly posed as a girl to financially extort the young man. The Nigerian men in a text message reportedly threatened to release the compromising material and "ruin" the victim's "career" if he did not make a $1,000 blackmail payment to them, according to court documents."The extortion scheme that targeted [the victim] is consistent with a trend of foreign-based organized groups targeting victims in the United States in various sextortion schemes," FBI Special Agent Jennifer Zenszer wrote.The victim, identified only as J.S. in court documents, reportedly told the suspects in a text message, "I don't even think I have enough for it." Three minutes after sending that message in January 2023, J.S. died by suicide, federal officials said.Following his son's tragic death, the father was determined to locate the suspects who allegedly drove his son to take his own life. Within days of his son's suicide, the father discovered "suspicious banking transactions" to an unknown phone number from his son's Zelle account. The father forwarded the information to the FBI — which used the phone number to track down an email address with the name "Antonia Diaz." The phone number was linked to several other email addresses using different variations of the name "Antonia Diaz," according to Fox News. Court documents say FBI agents twice issued subpoenas to Google and connected the email addresses to a phone number in Nigeria.In March 2023, the father logged into his son's Snapchat account and saw that J.S. had been receiving messages from a user under the name of "Alice." The father messaged the user, who then demanded money.A Pennsylvania district court judge subpoenaed Snapchat for information regarding the "Alice" account. Authorities said the Snapchat account was linked to another phone number based in Nigeria. "J.S.’s father later reviewed J.S.’s Apple iPhone, and observed that notifications of emails from ALICEDAVE660@GMAIL.COM appeared repeatedly," court documents said. "J.S.’s father emailed that address using his own email account, identifying himself as J.S.’s father and requesting a phone call. ALICEDAVE660@GMAIL.COM refused to speak with J.S.’s father by phone, and instead directed via iMessage that J.S. ‘reply me if he doesn’t want trouble.’"The father then sent screenshots of the communication from the emails from "Alice" to law enforcement. Days later, an undercover FBI agent sent a friend request to "Alice" on Snapchat. The agent posed as a friend of J.S., and the alleged scammer attempted another blackmail scheme but provided bank account usernames, believing the person would send more money.Law enforcement named two suspects — both from Nigeria — in the sextortion scheme: Imoleayo Samuel Aina, 26, and Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, 24.Earlier this month, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced that Aina had been charged with cyberstalking, interstate threat to injure reputation, and receiving proceeds of extortion. Aina and Abiodun are both charged with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.If convicted of all the charges against them, Aina faces a maximum possible sentence of life in prison, and Abiodun faces a maximum possible imprisonment sentence of 40 years.The suspects were arrested in Nigeria, and the FBI took custody of them on July 31.On Aug. 2, Aina and Abiodun appeared in federal magistrate court in Philadelphia before U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth T. Hey.According to the FBI, financially motivated sextortion victims are typically males between the ages of 14 and 17, and the schemes can lead to victim suicide. From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received more than 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors. The sextortion schemes involved at least 12,600 victims — mostly boys — and led to at least 20 suicides.There was a 20% spike in reports of financially motivated sextortion in the six-month period from October 2022 to March 2023 compared to the same time period the previous year.The FBI noted that financially motivated sextortion criminals usually are located outside the United States and known to operate out of West African countries such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast or Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines.Blaze News previously reported about a 16-year-old Mississippi boy who committed suicide after getting entangled in a sextortion plot in 2023.In 2022, a 17-year-old Michigan boy committed suicide after falling victim to a sextortion scheme that three Nigerian men orchestrated.South Carolina state lawmaker Rep. Brandon Guffey (R) lost his 17-year-old son, Gavin Guffey, to a suicide in 2022 due to a sextortion scheme. "The most important thing for [victims] to realize is to remember that they are a victim of a crime," Guffey told Fox News. "They are not the cause of this happening. They are not in trouble because they sent an image. And then I always recommend to not delete the messages. Instead, screenshot them and go offline. Disconnect your account because they will continue to harass you."Special Agent in Charge Douglas DePodesta of the FBI Memphis Field Office said, "The FBI has seen a horrific increase in reports of financial sextortion schemes. Protecting children is one of the highest priorities of the FBI. We need parents and caregivers to work with us to prevent this crime before it happens and help children come forward if it does."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
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