Faith Nyasuguta
In April, two men from Lagos, Nigeria, pleaded guilty in a case of international sextortion that led to the suicide of a Michigan teenager from the Upper Peninsula. Samuel Ogoshi, 22, and Samson Ogoshi, 20, admitted to conspiring to sexually exploit teenage boys in Michigan’s western district and across the United States, as announced by the United States Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.
The victim, Jordan DeMay, from Marquette, took his own life in the spring of 2022 after being sexually extorted. Law enforcement is still working to extradite a third man, Ezekiel Robert, who is also implicated in the case.
The charge of conspiracy to sexually exploit minors carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, with a maximum penalty of 30 years. According to the indictment, the three men were part of a ring that stalked users on social media, hacking accounts to harass and intimidate victims into paying money.
The scheme involved hacking social media accounts and selling them to the three men, who then posed as young women and girls to lure teenage and young adult men into engaging in sexual conversations.
The men would start conversations with the victims while simultaneously researching them online, gathering information about where they lived, went to school, and worked. Once they gained the victims’ trust, they solicited them to make and send sexually explicit images of themselves.
After receiving these images, the perpetrators would create collages that included the explicit photos alongside other images of the victims from social media, such as pictures of their friends and family.
They then threatened to send these collages to the victims’ followers unless they paid money.
“Today’s guilty pleas represent an extraordinary success in the prosecution of international sextortion,” said U.S. Attorney in April.
Mark Totten for the Western District of Michigan. “These convictions will send a message to criminals in Nigeria and every corner of the globe: working with our partners both here and overseas, we can find you and bring you to justice. I hope these guilty pleas also bring a small measure of relief to the family of Jordan DeMay, who died as a result of this crime. Of course, the job is not done. The Ogoshi brothers await sentencing later this year,and we are still pursuing the extradition of the third defender: Ezekiel Robert.”
As part of their pleas, the Ogoshi brothers have also agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of others. The charges against Ezekiel Robert are still pending. On August 13, 2023, Nigeria extradited the Ogoshis to the United States to face prosecution after a grand jury indicted the brothers in November 2022 for sexual extortion.
On March 21, a Nigerian court ordered the third defendant, Ezekiel Robert, to be extradited to the United States. He has appealed that decision, and the matter is currently before the Nigerian High Court.
DeMay’s family issued a statement when the indictment of the three men was announced, expressing their determination to share their son’s story. “We wanted everyone to be aware of sextortion and have those tough conversations with their families so if it did happen to them they knew to talk to someone,” his mother, Jennifer Buta, said.
“Financial sextortion is a rising and very serious threat targeting our minors nationwide, and this case shook the very core of our Michigan community,” said Special Agent in Charge Cheyvoryea Gibson of the FBI Detroit Field Office.
Separately, Two men were arrested in Nigeria after allegedly trying to extort an Australian teenager by threatening to release compromising photos of him online, according to Australian police.
The boy reportedly committed suicide after being threatened by the suspects in the sextortion scam. The men demanded Aus$500 (US$330) to keep the photos private.
Working with authorities in South Africa and Nigeria, Australian police tracked the two men to a slum in Nigeria. Under Nigerian law, local authorities have the power to prosecute for Australian-based offenses.
300M+ CHILDREN SUFFER ONLINE SEXUAL ABUSE ANNUALLY
A recent study has revealed that over 300 million children worldwide fall victim to online sexual exploitation and abuse annually. This statistic, equating to one in eight of the world’s children, was published in late May by the University of Edinburgh’s Childlight Global Child Safety Institute.
The study exposed the widespread, growing issue of online sexual abuse perpetrated against minors.
While carrying out the study, researchers at the University of Edinburgh disclosed that in the past 12 months alone, millions of young people have been victims of non-consensual taking, sharing, and exposure to sexual images and videos.
Additionally, the report highlighted a similar number of cases involving solicitation that includes unwanted sexting and requests for sexual acts by both adults and other youths.
Offenses range from sextortion, where predators demand money from victims to keep images private, to the abuse of AI technology to create deepfake videos and pictures.
Though it was indicated that the problem is global, the research suggested that the United States is a particularly high-risk area, with one in nine men there admitting to online offences against children at some point.
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