The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested 22 Nigerians allegedly involved in a sextortion scheme linked to over 20 teen suicides across the United States since 2021, the agency announced Thursday on its website.
The arrests were part of “Operation Artemis,” a first-of-its-kind global effort involving law enforcement agencies in Canada, Australia, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom. Launched nearly two years ago, the operation responded to thousands of reports of teenage boys being coerced into sharing explicit images online, then extorted with threats to expose them unless they paid money.
According to the FBI, the investigation directly connected at least one suspect to an American teen who died by suicide.
In these schemes, perpetrators typically pose as young women to lure minors into exchanging nude photos. Once the victims comply, the offenders demand payment under threat of public exposure. Even when payments are made, the threats often persist and escalate.
“Analysis of victims’ phones and social media accounts revealed heartbreaking narratives of young kids enduring panicked negotiations in bids to maintain their privacy,” the FBI said.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) reported over 34,000 sextortion cases in 2023, rising to more than 54,000 in 2024. Financial losses from these crimes totaled nearly $65 million over the past two years.
Between October 2021 and March 2023, U.S. authorities and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) recorded more than 12,600 minors targeted, with the number of financial sextortion reports climbing sharply—from 10,731 in 2022 to 26,718 in 2023.
Australia has also seen an increase, with its Federal Police recording approximately 300 new sextortion cases per month.
In Nigeria, FBI Special Agent Matthew Crowley interviewed suspects to understand why they chose sextortion over other scams like romance fraud or business email compromise.
“One subject said, ‘It’s easy money. I can just move on to the next one if I don’t get any traction,’” Crowley reported.
She added, “It makes sense why they would go that route because they could target 40 victims in a day working multiple at a time. And maybe of those 40, three pay. But if three paid $200, that’s $600.”
The devastating consequences of these crimes were highlighted by the father of a 16-year-old American boy who took his own life after being targeted.
“Everything that he loved, every college ambition he had, every girl he liked, every friend he had—those things were all threatened right then,” the father said.
“Imagine somebody walking into your home in the middle of the night and shooting your son. Well, this person did something even worse than that. He scared him so bad that he shot himself.”
