FBI Arrest 22 Nigerians For Sextortion Crimes Linked To Teenagers’ Suicides

Source: Africa Publicity

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested 22 Nigerian citizens in a global sextortion crackdown, codenamed Operation Artemis. The crackdown aimed at tackling a disturbing rise in financially-motivated sextortion crimes linked to suicides committed by a number of teenagers in the US.

The FBI, in collaboration with law enforcement agencies from Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Nigeria, launched the unprecedented operation in response to an alarming rise in sextortion-related suicides across the United States.

The US authorities said about half of those arrested were directly linked to victims who had taken their own lives.

“In the wake of thousands of reports of teen boys being tricked into sharing sexually explicit photos and threatened with exposure unless they paid up—a scenario blamed for more than 20 teen suicides in the U.S. since 2021—the FBI and law enforcement partners from Canada, Australia, and Nigeria conducted a first-of-its kind operation that resulted in charges against some of the most egregious perpetrators of financially motivated sextortion.
As a result of Operation Artemis, FBI investigations led to the arrest of 22 Nigerian subjects, with at least one arrest linked to an American victim who took their own life,” the FBI said in a statement on its website.

According to the FBI, “The coordinated effort started almost two years ago when the FBI began reviewing and associating thousands of disparate reports of teens being targeted and victimized on social media platforms. Analysis of victims’ phones and social media accounts revealed heartbreaking narratives of young kids enduring panicked negotiations in bids to maintain their privacy.”