Two Nigerian men extradited to the U.S. on Thursday have been charged with involvement in sextortion schemes that resulted in the deaths of two minor victims in Mississippi and North Carolina.
Sextortion is a form of online blackmail in which cybercriminals threaten victims with leaking nude images and videos they stole (through hacking) or obtained (through coercion).
In some cases, they may also sell the stolen content on criminal marketplaces or share the victims’ personal information (including names, dates of birth, emails, phone numbers, and social media usernames) with other criminals, who can use it to further pressure them into providing additional private images and videos.
26-year-old Adebola Festus Adekunle and 24-year-old Mudasiru Afeez Olawale were both arrested in Nigeria in August 2023 as part of “Operation Artemis,” a joint international law enforcement action that targets sextortion rings operating from Nigeria who prey on minors in the United States.
They now face a maximum penalty of life in prison and mandatory minimum prison sentences on at least two charges, with the child exploitation resulting in death charge carrying a minimum penalty of 30 years in prison.
“Adekunle is charged with the sexual exploitation of a minor resulting in death, the production of child sexual abuse material, coercion and enticement of a minor, and interstate threats with intent to extort – and Olawale is charged with offenses relating to sexual exploitation of minors, coercion and enticement of minors, distribution of child pornography, and more,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.
“They’ve been overseas for three years, but this FBI and our DOJ partners went and got them. Sextortion is a heinous crime targeting innocent people, often young children – and this FBI will stop at nothing to pursue every single individual who harms vulnerable Americans.”
Earlier this month, the FBI also warned that cybercriminals are targeting children’s and adults’ social media accounts to steal sexually explicit images or videos that will be used to blackmail the victims in sextortion schemes.
Almost five years ago, in September 2021, the FBI also warned of a massive increase in sextortion complaints, advising those receiving threats to contact law enforcement as soon as possible and stop all interaction with the criminals immediately.
Sextortionists face dozens of years in prison if caught. For instance, in May, a Canadian man was sentenced to 33 years in prison for targeting over 145 children across the United States, some of them as young as 6 years old, in an eight-year-long sextortion scheme.
More recently, a member of “The Com” online cybercrime collective was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to blackmail and multiple child sexual abuse offenses against nearly 120 victims worldwide.
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