BBC tracks down sextortion scammer concentrating on teenage boys

[ad_1] <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/3d75/live/8dbea6a0-9f99-11f0-8e4d-7723b0da5e04.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/3d75/live/8dbea6a0-9f99-11f0-8e4d-7723b0da5e04.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3d75/live/8dbea6a0-9f99-11f0-8e4d-7723b0da5e04.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/3d75/live/8dbea6a0-9f99-11f0-8e4d-7723b0da5e04.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/3d75/live/8dbea6a0-9f99-11f0-8e4d-7723b0da5e04.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/3d75/live/8dbea6a0-9f99-11f0-8e4d-7723b0da5e04.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/3d75/live/8dbea6a0-9f99-11f0-8e4d-7723b0da5e04.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/3d75/live/8dbea6a0-9f99-11f0-8e4d-7723b0da5e04.png.webp" loading="eager" alt="BBC Image showing Evan Boettler in the middle, with the Instagram and Snapchat logos behind him in a darker colour. He has blonde hair with a long fringe and is smiling at the camera. He is wearing a hooded top. " class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> BBC Evan Boettler's mother and father describe him as a vivid, humorous teenager who cherished to fish, play sport and hunt

"I've your nudes and the whole lot wanted to break your life".

This chilling message was acquired on social media by US teenager Evan Boettler, from somebody he had beforehand believed to be a younger woman - in truth, it was a cyber-scammer.

Simply 90 minutes after receiving the primary message, the 16-year-old took his personal life.

Sextortion - sexual extortion - is among the fastest-growing on-line crimes. Victims - typically youngsters within the US and Europe - are tricked into sending intimate pictures or movies, which the scammers threaten to move on except they're paid.

"After they lastly instructed us that evening that he was gone, it did not make any sense. I do not perceive how this might occur to our household," says Evan's mom Kari.

Within the Missouri house she shares with Evan's father Brad, she describes their son as a vivid, humorous teenager who cherished to fish, play sport and hunt.

They inform me how late on a chilly afternoon in early January 2024, Evan was contacted on Snapchat by somebody he believed was a lady referred to as JennyTee60. However she was not what she appeared. Inside minutes, "Jenny" persuaded him to share express pictures of himself and instantly started ruthlessly blackmailing him.

Evan's mother and father present Tir spherical his room and clarify how his objects convey again good reminiscences, however make them realise the size of their loss

Practically two years later, the Boettlers' grief has been uncooked, and their seek for solutions met with frustration. Social media platforms equivalent to Meta refuse to share data with no courtroom order - which the household doesn't but have, regardless of urgent the FBI to behave. Within the years since Evan died, legislation enforcement appears to have made little progress.

There was, nevertheless, one essential hint - at one level the scammer demanded Evan's Fb login, and after they used this, they left behind an IP deal with.

That digital footprint led me to a number of areas in Nigeria, most often its most-populated metropolis, Lagos, the place I hoped to find who was accountable.

My first conferences took me to the again streets that are house to lots of the metropolis's fraudsters, often called "Yahoo Boys" - named after the e-mail they used to run on-line scams within the early 2000s.

These younger males, typically of their 20s, reside in impoverished areas however dream of quick vehicles and fast cash.

'I do not really feel unhealthy, I want the cash' - Ola explains why he targets youngsters

That is the place I met Ola. He laid out the mechanics of sextortion with a matter-of-fact ease.

"You open a feminine account utilizing pretend names from pretend turbines," he mentioned. "It is a web site the place you get names of individuals from the nation that you really want."

As soon as the profile is ready up, the concentrating on begins. The boys on the opposite finish of the display change into nothing greater than usernames to the scammers messaging lots of of individuals a day, hoping one will ship them money.

I inform him this sounds ruthless and will break somebody's life. He replies: "I do not really feel unhealthy as a result of I want the cash."

It was apparently inconceivable for Ola to imagine a British or American teenager could not pay. In his thoughts, being born within the West mechanically meant privilege.

His reply is equally stark when requested why he focused them. "As a result of their intercourse drive is so excessive, and younger boys are fearful of their footage being launched to their class teams, their mother and father and their buddies."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/ca48/live/7d85a330-9f9c-11f0-b741-177e3e2c2fc7.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/ca48/live/7d85a330-9f9c-11f0-b741-177e3e2c2fc7.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ca48/live/7d85a330-9f9c-11f0-b741-177e3e2c2fc7.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/ca48/live/7d85a330-9f9c-11f0-b741-177e3e2c2fc7.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/ca48/live/7d85a330-9f9c-11f0-b741-177e3e2c2fc7.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/ca48/live/7d85a330-9f9c-11f0-b741-177e3e2c2fc7.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/ca48/live/7d85a330-9f9c-11f0-b741-177e3e2c2fc7.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ca48/live/7d85a330-9f9c-11f0-b741-177e3e2c2fc7.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Picture inside the Hustle Kingdom. Four men sit on sofas holding mobile phones. All are wearing balaclavas concealing their faces - two wear pink t-shirts, another a white vest and another is topless. The toom has a marble floor, grey curtains and a coffee table. Another man is standing up looking at a phone with his back to the camera." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> We watched as the boys on this Hustle Kingdom carried out their scams - principally monetary or romance fraud, they mentioned

Ola labored alone, however different circumstances present how sextortion in Lagos has developed into extra organised networked operations - gangs run with leaders, hierarchies and pooled assets, designed to maximise revenue.

The path ultimately took me into the waterways of Makoko, one of many metropolis's poorest districts, the place wood homes balanced on stilts rise on the sting of Lagos Lagoon.

To movie there, we first needed to search permission from the group's chief, and we have been guided all through by an area crew of fixers who knew learn how to navigate its maze of waterways.

I would been instructed about operations often called "Hustle Kingdoms" – rooms with gangs of younger males on telephones working scams. That they had been hardly ever, if ever, filmed. However after a lot negotiation, I used to be given entry.

This specific Hustle Kingdom was on the second ground of a low-rise constructing. Contained in the small room, a dozen younger males sat with laptops on their knees, all their telephones buzzing with messages from potential targets. The environment was like a name centre - they swapped pretend profiles, traded scripts, and handed across the names of latest victims.

Every younger man performed an element, however the cash all flowed upwards to their chief, often called Ghost. There, the skilled scammers educate their apprentices.

The lure was fast money, however beneath their bravado was one thing extra predatory - boys as younger as their early teenagers had been successfully groomed into crime.

Older "mentors" dangle success tales and social standing, whereas imposing money owed or taking a lower of each rip-off, making a cycle that's troublesome to flee.

Watching these males work, I realised how far eliminated this was from the lone scammers. This was organised, environment friendly and relentless - a system designed to extract as a lot cash as attainable.

May Evan's scammer have been a part of a Hustle Kingdom, or did he function alone? The chief, Ghost, mentioned they have been primarily conducting monetary scams, principally romance, not sextortion, as he was a "God-fearing individual". He mentioned solely folks with a "black coronary heart" did this. On this Hustle Kingdom, sextortion was seen as shameful.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/b531/live/cad49790-9f9c-11f0-92db-77261a15b9d2.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/b531/live/cad49790-9f9c-11f0-92db-77261a15b9d2.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b531/live/cad49790-9f9c-11f0-92db-77261a15b9d2.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/b531/live/cad49790-9f9c-11f0-92db-77261a15b9d2.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/b531/live/cad49790-9f9c-11f0-92db-77261a15b9d2.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/b531/live/cad49790-9f9c-11f0-92db-77261a15b9d2.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/b531/live/cad49790-9f9c-11f0-92db-77261a15b9d2.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/b531/live/cad49790-9f9c-11f0-92db-77261a15b9d2.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Picture of a man leaning forward and looking down while holding a white dove by its legs, above his head. The man is wearing a green woollen balaclava and a brown patterned short sleeve shirt." class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> We accompanied Ade as he visited a conventional healer, in a ceremony that concerned sacrificing a dove to be able to bind him to wealth

These scammers instructed me that a variety of Yahoo boys have been transitioning into what they referred to as "Yahoo Plus". This concerned them visiting native clergymen to bless scams, and to solid spells they believed would make victims extra compliant, or defend the scammers from being caught.

Conventional healers have lengthy been woven into Nigerian tradition, and for a few of these males, turning to them was as pure as shopping for a brand new Sim card.

I met Ade, a 20-year-old who had just lately began sextorting males. He agreed to let me comply with him to a so-called cyber-spiritualist, a person he believed may assist him earn more money. The shrine was tucked away down a aspect avenue on the sting of the town - a low-roofed room crowded with carved figures.

A white dove was introduced out and sacrificed, its blood spilling onto the ground. Ade was instructed to eat a part of the providing - a ritual the spiritualist mentioned would bind him to wealth and safety. After I requested how widespread this was, the healer instructed me he noticed six or seven Yahoo Boys a day. For Ade, it was not superstition however a enterprise expense.

What struck me most was the distinction between the outdated and the brand new. One second, I used to be watching a 20-year-old participate in a ritual rooted in centuries-old beliefs. Within the subsequent, I used to be being proven the instruments of the digital age.

Later, I additionally found a scammer utilizing twenty first Century sorcery - deepfake know-how with a lady he had employed, Rachel, appearing because the face of the con. He confirmed me the app on his laptop computer - a professional-grade face-swapping software that value him $3,500 (£2,600). He mentioned it was value it for the returns.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/fbc2/live/5fd89010-9f9f-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/fbc2/live/5fd89010-9f9f-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fbc2/live/5fd89010-9f9f-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/fbc2/live/5fd89010-9f9f-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/fbc2/live/5fd89010-9f9f-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/fbc2/live/5fd89010-9f9f-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/fbc2/live/5fd89010-9f9f-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/fbc2/live/5fd89010-9f9f-11f0-928c-71dbb8619e94.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Brandon Guffey pictured sitting behind a desk with bookshelves and a US flag behind him. He has short fair hair and beard, and is wearing a navy suit with a pale blue tie. To the left of the picture is Tir pictured from behind, she has long dark hair and a grey jumper" class="sc-5340b511-0 bGQwLJ"/> Brandon Guffey's 17-year-old son took his personal life after being focused on Instagram

Within the US, stories of sextortion to the FBI have greater than doubled previously three years, reaching a excessive of 55,000 in 2024. Within the UK, 110 stories are acquired by the Nationwide Crime Company every month.

Social media firms say they're appearing however their critics argue they might intervene extra aggressively.

In South Carolina, I met Brandon Guffey, a state consultant whose son Gavin took his personal life in 2022 after being focused on Instagram. He was 17.

Earlier than his son's loss of life, Brandon had been making ready a lawsuit in opposition to Meta, arguing the corporate had failed to guard him from predators. One of many accounts used to blackmail him was ultimately eliminated, however others remained reside. For Brandon, that element was damning.

Meta mentioned in 2024 it had taken down 63,000 sextortion accounts linked to Nigeria in a single sweep, together with 2,500 that shaped a part of a coordinated community concentrating on Western youngsters.

But critics argue these numbers merely spotlight the size of the issue.

"Did they pull it down in someday for a PR stunt whereas youngsters are nonetheless being attacked?" Brandon asks, "or, in the event that they did pull it down in someday, why have not they executed something since?''

A spokesperson for Meta mentioned the suggestion that it may eradicate sextortion if it solely selected to, was "merely unfaithful". They mentioned the corporate labored aggressively to struggle it by disrupting networks of scammers and supporting legislation enforcement.

"Now we have round 40,000 folks engaged on security and safety globally, with over $30bn invested on this space during the last decade," the spokesperson mentioned,"together with by mechanically putting teenagers within the strictest message settings and letting them know after they're chatting with somebody who could also be in a distinct nation."

The grieving mother and father' scepticism is echoed inside Meta itself. Arturo Bejar, a former engineering director-turned-whistleblower, testified to US Congress in 2023 that the corporate's management had ignored repeated warnings in regards to the risks dealing with youngsters on its platforms.

He instructed me the programs designed to guard younger customers have been basically insufficient.

''They preserve demonstrating that they do not need to know when youngsters are in hurt, they do not need folks to know when youngsters are in hurt... as a result of they do not need to cope with it," he mentioned.

Meta mentioned lots of Mr Bejar's recommended measures have been already in place. It added it had launched teen accounts with built-in protections on Instagram final 12 months, which means they will solely be messaged by folks they're already linked to.

The spokesperson mentioned when one thing was reported as spam, the corporate would take motion if it didn't comply with group requirements.

Referring to the case of Evan Boettler, Snapchat mentioned its "deepest sympathies are with the Boettler household".

"Now we have zero tolerance for sextortion on Snapchat. If we uncover this exercise, we take fast motion to take away the account and we assist legislation enforcement efforts to assist convey offenders to justice."

The Web Watch Basis (IWF) has a software which under-18s worldwide can use to confidentially report nude or sexual pictures of themselves, take away them from the web and stop them from being reuploaded.

And if the content material has not but appeared on-line, the charity can nonetheless create a digital fingerprint for the image which can stop it from being shared on-line - though they're unable to take away it from encrypted networks like WhatsApp or if it has been saved on somebody's cellphone or laptop.

Within the UK, the charity works with Childline, which affords the software by way of its "Report Take away" service, which additionally provides the kid the choice to talk to one among its counsellors.

The IWF instructed us within the first eight months of 2025 it has taken motion over 723 stories from Report Take away - 224 of these featured sexual extortion.

In the meantime, for Evan's mother and father, the limitations to justice stay insurmountable. With Meta and Snapchat unable to launch the information, all hopes of discovering Evan's scammer relied on GloWorld, a Nigerian service supplier that the IP deal with linked to.

After months of making an attempt, I lastly acquired an replace. Regardless that GloWorld was supposed to maintain person data for 2 years, it had failed to take action. The path had gone chilly.

After I referred to as the Boettlers they have been gracious and thanked me for my efforts. Brad had beforehand described their son as "an incredible child".

"It wasn't onerous to mum or dad him as a result of he was such a great human," he mentioned. "I could not even put into phrases how a lot I cherished him."