A father lost his son to sextortion swindlers. He helped the FBI find the suspects

A Pennsylvania father stricken by grief after his son's suicide helped the FBI locate and extradite two people from another continent on charges that they sexually extorted his son.

Sextortion is a fast-burgeoning crime problem in America and across the globe, resulting in over 20 suicides in the U.S. since 2021.

The typical scenario involves online swindlers lurking on social media, pretending to be attractive women, and enticing young men to send nude or suggestive photographs. Once the charlatans have the photo, they use it to blackmail the victim by threatening to post the embarrassing image on Facebook or show it to the duped person's loved ones.

Federal agents and U.S. District Court documents say that's exactly what happened to an unsuspecting young man in Pennsylvania in 2023. An FBI affidavit says Imoleayo Samuel Aina and Samuel Olasunkanmi Abiodun, both of Nigeria, posed as a young girl and beguiled the man to send sexually explicit images of himself.

Aina and Abiodun threatened to publicize the photos unless he sent them $1,000, the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement. The FBI called the scheme financially motivated sextortion.

USA TODAY is not naming the deceased man or his father out of respect for their privacy.

Court records show Aina and Abiodun were arrested by Nigerian authorities on Sept. 14 and Sept. 3, respectively. They were extradited to the U.S. on July 31. Aina faces U.S. charges of cyberstalking, interstate threat to injure reputation, and receiving proceeds of extortion; Abiodun is charged with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

If convicted, Aina faces a maximum life sentence and Abiodun faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Assistant Professor of Criminology at the University of South Florida Roberta O'Malley told USA TODAY that in her research of 215 men who were sexually extorted, half told her they had thoughts of death or suicide. She alluded to that coming from feelings of guilt or shame for being targeted, which trickled down to many declining law enforcement involvement and to social withdrawal.

"Those individuals who experienced suicidal ideation as a byproduct of financial sextortion were also the people who either reported feeling a lot of shame and guilt or having these really negative somatic symptoms as well," O'Malley said.

Father uses son's phone to help FBI locate suspects

After the man's death, his father accessed his son's iPhone and read notifications from an email and social media accounts used by Aina and Abiodun for the scheme, according to court documents.

FBI Special Agent Jennifer Zenszer said the two Nigerian men had sent a text to the victim threatening to publicize sexual images of him if he didn't reply and send cash.

"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," she wrote.

She added the schemes involved playing as a young attractive woman typically to young men to get sexually explicit photos, then threatening to post them online unless the victim pays money through third-party banking apps or cryptocurrency - all of which happened in the Pennsylvania case.

The FBI obtained several subpoenas and warrants to link Aina to email and WhatsApp accounts used to contact the victim. Abiodun owned the Snapchat, bank and Bitcoin accounts, according to court papers.

The victim's dad and an undercover FBI employee helped get information from the two Nigerians by posing as a teen and the victim, according to the federal affidavit.

A third man, Afeez Olatunji Adewale, was interviewed by the FBI where he told agents about the cybercrime scheme, called "Yahoo" in Nigeria, and people involved are "Yahoo Boys."

Zenszer wrote Adewale told agents he knows Abiodun does other fraud activities and is involved in a large range of "Yahoo" because of his screenshots of money coming from different vendors. Adewale admitted he was sending and receiving money from December 2022 to January 2023 on Abiodun's behalf.

"When asked by interviewing agents if Adewale considers Abiodun a 'Yahoo Boy,' Adewale answered, 'Hell ya,'" Zenszer wrote.

The two called the victim eight times and received $1,000 from the victim just before his suicide. Abiodun and Aina were interviewed by the FBI and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission law enforcement agency in Nigeria, where they allegedly confessed to agents about receiving money and using financially motivated sextortion.

Law enforcement involvement is rare in such cases. O'Malley said 20% of the victims she spoke to didn't report it to police because of feelings of shame and doubt if police would fully investigate the crime.

"There's this other element of self-blame where they really just don't want to report, and they feel very self-conscious doing so," she said.

Changes are coming to help survivors of sextortion

Sextortion is a federal crime and some states are stepping up to pass laws banning nonconsensual distribution of sexual photos, commonly referred as revenge porn, O'Malley said. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in January with leaders of social media companies to pressure them to act and prevent children from being exploited on their platforms.

It's one of many ways she said society is starting to more strongly address sextortion. Support groups are growing, she said.

"I think people becoming more aware of this kind of crime is always going to kind of reduce stigma in terms of those who've been victimized," she said.

With many of the perpetrators of sextortion located outside of the U.S., O'Malley said an arrest isn't likely to happen. But with advancements in technology and the Justice Department taking a strong interest in investigating the crimes, more tools are available to help victims at least attempt to remove sextorted images.

The FBI has requested that anyone or their loved ones are involved in sextortion, to call the department at 1-800-225-5324 or report it online at Tips.FBI.gov.

"If they can prevent the spread of their images by using kind of more of these technological solutions, such as NCMEC Take it Down initiative, that can really relieve a lot of anxiety for victims, because that's really the thing that they're most concerned about, is their image living online," O'Malley said.

If you or someone you know is or could be a victim of online sexual violence, including sextortion, organizations like the National Sexual Violence Resource Center are here to help survivors and their loved ones. Visit NSVRC.org for help and support.

If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. 

Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at knurse@USATODAY.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter,@KrystalRNurse.