'Sextortion' scheme linked to California teen's death leads to arrests in West Africa

USA Today

14-05-2025

'Sextortion' scheme linked to California teen's death leads to arrests in West Africa
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Investigation: Sextortion victims pay high price to recover photos
After falling prey to sextortionists, victims turn to companies promising to get rid of the content in exchange for high fees.
SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced the arrest of four men in West Africa for their roles in an international "sextortion" scheme that targeted thousands of victims, including minors, throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.
The arrest of Alfred Kassi and three alleged accomplices, all in Côte d'Ivoire, represents the latest major development in the efforts to counter online shakedowns that have resulted in the suicide deaths of at least 30 American boys since 2021.
In sextortion cases, the perpetrators typically contact their victims through social media and gain their trust, then convince them to share sexually explicit pictures, followed by a threat to post the photos online and a demand for payment.
Among the victims, prosecutors said, was a high school senior from San Jose, California. Ryan Last, 17, took his own life in February 2022, "hours after being sextorted online" by an individual he thought was a 20-year-old woman, according to prosecutors. He had already paid $150 by then.
'Significant step in the fight against child exploitation'
In addition to Kassi, Ivorian law enforcement also arrested two other individuals, Moussa Diaby and Oumar Cisse. Prosecutors said Diaby and Cisse are part of Kassi's alleged sextortion network and admitted to their sextortion crimes
"At the time of his arrest, Kassi allegedly still had the sextortion messages he sent to the 17-year-old victim in February 2022 on his phone," the Justice Department said in a news release that also noted the department conducted a lengthy investigation with the help of Ivorian law enforcement.
Federal prosecutors added that Oumarou Ouedraogo, an alleged money launderer, was arrested by Ivorian law enforcement last month. The accused men will be prosecuted in Côte d'Ivoire because the country does not extradite its citizens, the Department of Justice said.
A U.S.-based accomplice, Jonathan Kassi, was convicted in a California state court in 2023 and sentenced to 18 months in jail, according to the Justice Department.
The FBI said last month that a new global operation focusing on battling financial sextortion from Nigeria — another hotbed of the crime — had led to 22 arrests. About half of those were linked to suicides, according to the FBI.
"This operation marks a significant step in the fight against child exploitation and brings justice and accountability to international perpetrators hiding anonymously behind screens," said the agency, which also listed guilty pleas in several sextortion cases since February among recent successes.
Sextortion-related tips to the FBI rose by 30%
The FBI said it has detected "a huge increase" in sextortion attempts on minors, often males between the ages of 14 and 17, reached via Instagram. The number of sextortion-related reports made to the FBI's national tip line soared by 30% from October 2024 to March 2025 compared to the previous such stretch.
The victim total also spiked, from 34,000 in 2023 to 54,000 last year, resulting in about $65 million in financial losses.
In its yearly report on internet crime released April 23, the bureau said complaints of online extortion attempts, not necessarily sextortion, more than doubled in recent years, from 39,416 in 2022 to 86,415 in 2024. It was the fastest-growing of the agency's 26 cybercrime categories.
And the consequences are devastating for families, well beyond any financial losses.
"Financial sextortion represents a grave and growing threat to children, especially teenage boys," said Julie Cordua, CEO of the technology nonprofit Thorn. "For our society, it's a reminder of the urgent need for layered protections to keep our kids safe online."
The FBI urges victims of sextortion and their loved ones to contact their local FBI field office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), or make a report online at the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Additional resources can be found at Financially Motivated Sextortion – FBI.