Foreign News
Dead in 6 hours: How Nigerian sextortion scammers targeted my son
Sextortion is the fastest-growing scam affecting teenagers globally and has been linked to more than 27 suicides in the US alone. Many of the scammers appear to be from Nigeria – where authorities are defending their actions and are under pressure to do more.
It has been two years since Jenn Buta’s son Jordan killed himself after being targeted by scammers who lured him into sending them explicit images of himself, and then tried to blackmail him.
She still can’t bring herself to change anything about his bedroom. The 17-year-old’s basketball jerseys, clothes, posters and bedsheets are just how he left them. The curtains are closed, and the door is shut to keep memories of him that only a parent would understand. “It still smells like him. That’s one of the reasons I still have the door closed. I can still smell that sweat, dirt, cologne mix in this room. I’m just not ready to part with his stuff,” she said.
Jordan was contacted by sextortion scammers on Instagram. They pretended to be a pretty girl his age and flirted with him, sending sexual pictures to coax him into sharing explicit photos of himself. They then blackmailed him for hundreds of pounds to stop them sharing the pictures online to his friends.
Jordan sent as much money as he could and warned the sextortionists he would kill himself if they spread the images. The criminals replied: “Good… Do that fast – or I’ll make you do it.”
It was less than six hours from the time Jordan started communicating until the time he ultimately took his life. “There’s actually a script online,” Jenn told BBC News, from her home in Michigan, in the north of the US. “And these people are just going through the script and putting that pressure on.
“And they’re doing it quick, because then they can move on to the next person, because it’s about volume.”
The criminals were tracked to Nigeria, arrested, and then extradited to the US.
Two brothers from Lagos – Samuel Ogoshi, 22, and Samson Ogoshi, 20 – are awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to child sexploitation charges. Another Nigerian man linked to Jordan’s death and other cases is fighting extradition.
Jordan’s tragic story has become a touch point in the fight against the growing problem of sextortion.
Jenn is a now high-profile campaigner on TikTok – using the account Jordan set up for her – to raise awareness about the dangers of sextortion to young people. Her videos have been liked more than a million times.
It’s feared that sextortion is under-reported due to its sensitive nature. But US crime figures show cases more than doubled last year, rising to 26,700, with at least 27 boys having killed themselves in the past two years.
Researchers and law enforcement agencies point to West Africa, and particularly Nigeria, as a hotspot for where attackers are based.
In April, two Nigerian men were arrested after a schoolboy from Australia killed himself. Two other men are on trial in Lagos, after the suicides of a 15-year-old boy in the US and a 14-year-old in Canada.
In January, US cyber-company Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) highlighted a web of Nigerian TikTok, YouTube and Scribd accounts sharing tips and scripts for sextortion. Many of the discussions and videos are in Nigerian Pidgin dialect.
It’s not the first time that Nigeria’s young tech-savvy population has embraced a new wave of cyber-crime.
The term Yahoo Boys is used to describe a portion of the population that use cyber-crime to earn a living. It comes from the early 2000s wave of Nigerian Prince scam emails which spread through the Yahoo email service.
Dr Tombari Sibe, from Digital Footprints Nigeria, says cyber-fraud such as sextortion has become normalised to young people in the country: “There’s also the big problem of unemployment and of poverty.
“All these young ones who don’t really have much – it’s become almost like a mainstream activity where they don’t really think too much about the consequences. They just see their colleagues making money.”
African human rights charity Devatop has said the current methods of handling sextortion in Nigeria have failed to effectively curb the practice. And a report from NCRI said that celebrating sextortion crimes are an established part of the internet subculture in the country.
In an exclusive interview with the BBC, the director of Nigeria’s National Cyber Crime Centre (NCCC) defended his police force’s actions, and insisted it was working hard to catch criminals and deter others from carrying out attacks.
Uche Ifeanyi Henry said his officers were “hitting criminals hard” and said it is “laughable” that anyone should accuse Nigeria of not taking sextortion crime seriously. “We are giving criminals a very serious hit. A lot have been prosecuted and a lot have been arrested,” he said. “Many of these criminals are moving to neighbouring countries now because of our activity.”
The NCCC director pointed to the fact that the government has spent millions of pounds on a state-of-the-art cyber-crime centre, to show it was taking cyber-crime seriously, especially sextortion.
He said Nigerian teenagers are also being targeted, and he argued that the criminals were not just a Nigerian problem, with other sextortionists in south-east Asia. Tackling them would require global support, he said.
With that in mind, the director and his technical team are this week visiting the UK’s National Crime Agency, which last month issued a warning to children and schools about a rise in sextortion cases.
The visit is designed to improve collaboration on sextortion and other cyber-crime investigations. It follows similar recent meetings with Japanese police.
Meanwhile, Jenn Buta continues to campaign alongside Jordan’s father John DeMay. They regularly give advice to young people who may become victims.
Advice that Jenn and many law enforcement agencies regularly give people targeted by sextortionists includes:
- Remember you are not alone and this is not your fault
- Report the predator’s account, via the platform’s safety feature
- Block the predator from contacting you
- Save the profile or messages – they can help law enforcement identify and stop the predator
- Ask for help from a trusted adult or law enforcement before sending money or more images
- Co-operating with the predator rarely stops the blackmail and harassment – but law enforcement can
[BBC]
Two-and-a-half years after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a grand temple to Hindu god Ram, the shrine is embroiled in an unsavoury row over allegations that donations from devotees worth tens of millions of rupees have been embezzled.
The temple in the once-flashpoint city of Ayodhya in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh replaced a 16th-Century mosque torn down by Hindu mobs in 1992, sparking riots in which nearly 2,000 people died.
Since its inauguration in January 2024, the three-storey temple spread over 2.7 acres has become one of India’s most important pilgrimage centres, attracting an estimated 50 million visitors annually.
But in recent weeks, questions over the handling of cash, valuable jewellery, gold and silver offered by devotees have triggered a political controversy and petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored investigation by the federal police.
The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust – an independent trust which manages the shrine – has denied any wrongdoing. The state government has set up a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to inquire into the allegations.
Following an interim report from SIT, Ayodhya police registered a case of alleged embezzlement on Thursday, naming eight people.
All eight are in custody and being questioned, senior police officer Gaurav Grover told BBC Hindi. They are expected to be produced before a magistrate within a day or two, he added.
The temple complex, which also includes six smaller shrines, draws 70,000 to 80,000 devotees daily, with crowds tripling on weekends and festivals. Most leave offerings in about 35 donation boxes around the site.
The trust – which collects, sorts and counts the offerings – recorded an annual income of 3.27bn rupees ($35m; £26m) in the financial year 2024-25, making it one of India’s largest temples in terms of earnings, the Hindustan Times reported.
A former city legislator has alleged more than 70m rupees ($739,550; £560,420) have gone missing.
The temple trust rejected claims that donations or offerings were improperly handled.
In a video statement on Facebook, its general secretary Champat Rai said the trust’s activities, including the process used to count donations and even the counting room, were routinely audited by their trustees and workers along with some State Bank of India employees.
“This work continues for several days. This is what is happening nowadays. No-one has noticed any discrepancy yet,” he added.
The allegations of embezzlement at what is considered one of India’s most consequential religious sites has made headlines in India. The temple stands on a site that has been at the centre of one of India’s most consequential religious, political and legal disputes for decades.
Many Hindus believe Ayodhya to be the birthplace of deity Ram. A vigorous nation-wide campaign spearheaded by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to reclaim the land led to the demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu activists in 1992.
After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court in 2019 awarded the disputed land for the construction of a temple and ordered that alternative land be provided for a mosque.
The dispute shaped Indian politics for decades and became closely associated with the rise of the BJP in the 1990s in a country where 80% of the population is Hindu.
The construction of the temple was one of the main election promises of the BJP and its opening in January 2024 is believed to have contributed to Modi’s win in the general election held a few months later.
So even though the temple is managed by an independent trust, opposition parties are demanding answers from Modi and his BJP – which is also in power in the state.
The alleged irregularities in the handling of donations and offerings made by devotees were first made by Mahipal Singh, who previously supervised the trust’s accounts team and is now being called the “whistleblower”.
Singh has publicly claimed that he was replaced after he raised concerns internally about the handling of cash offerings and precious metals received as gifts. When contacted by BBC Hindi, Singh refused to talk citing threat to his life.
“I have received death threats. I am under immense pressure and stress. I am not in a position to say anything. Whatever I have said in public so far, please accept it as my word,” he said.
The concerns raised by Singh have not been independently verified, but the issue gained political attention on 7 June when former state chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav raised questions about the alleged siphoning off of donations and called for an investigation.
In a series of social media posts, he demanded explanations from those managing donations and questioned what he described as a lack of clarity over the matter.
His party colleague Ayodhya MP Awadhesh Prasad said the matter should be investigated by a court-monitored team. He also called for trust members to be suspended from their positions while any inquiry is under way.
Several other politicians – from the opposition as well as the BJP – also raised questions about the alleged financial irregularities.
Local BJP leader Rajneesh Singh sought an investigation into issues linked to donations and the people involved in managing them.
Meanwhile, the long-time residents of Ayodhya told BBC Hindi that they were shocked by the allegations of corruption at the temple.
“The offerings are meant for the temple’s upkeep and for the welfare of pilgrims. It’s not meant for people to take home,” said Vijay Lakshmi.
Santosh Puri called the allegations “a fatal blow to our religion”.
Talking about the claims, Ajay Kumar Varma described Ayodhya as “god’s abode” and said such things should not happen here. “The people being blamed have been involved with the temple for a long time, so it’s hard to believe that they could do this,” he said.
BP Pandey called the allegations “a stain” on the government and the trust. “The government must ensure that there is no repeat of this sort of thing.”
Meanwhile, the SIT has sought more time to complete the inquiry. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has urged anyone with evidence to submit it to investigators. He said the inquiry would establish the facts and appealed to devotees not to prejudge the outcome.
Adityanath added that people who had waited centuries for the construction of the Ram temple could wait a few more days for the SIT to complete its work.
But there’s a growing clamour to hand over the investigation to the federal police as it’s a matter involving one of India’s most prominent religious institutions.
A number of petitions have been filed in the state high court and the Supreme Court asking for a police complaint to be registered and judges to supervise the investigation.
A top court lawyer has also written a letter to the prime minister, the state chief minister and chief justice, seeking an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation “to restore the faith of the devotees”.
“These were not ordinary commercial receipts, but sacred offering,” he wrote. “Any diversion or embezzlement of funds constitutes a profound betrayal of the faith reposed by millions of devotees in one of the most sacred institutions of Hindu faith.”
[BBC]
Foreign News
Zambia ex-president’s family wins latest legal battle over what should happen to his body
More than a year after the death of Zambia’s former President Edgar Lungu, his family have won their appeal to have his body buried in South Africa where he died – overturning a high court ruling that allowed the Zambian government to repatriate the corpse.
Tuesday’s Supreme Court of Appeal judgement finally puts to rest the legal battle over what should happen to his remains following a long-standing feud between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema.
The Zambian government has said while it disagrees with the ruling it will “not be taking the matter any further”.
It had long argued that, as a former head of state, Lungu should be honoured in the country.
The Zambian government wished to see him laid to rest alongside his predecessors in the special presidential burial ground in the capital, Lusaka.
But Lungu’s family wanted a private burial after negotiations with the government over the funeral arrangements broke down.
“The very ritual intended to bring closure has, instead, pitted family against the state in a hard-fought legal dispute far from the protagonists’ home,” said Justice Raylene May Keightley in Tuesday’s judgement.
Last August, the South African high court in Pretoria ruled that Zambia’s govrnment could repatrite the body and give him a state funeral – an outcome that left Lungu’s relatives visibly distraught in the courtroom.
The family appealed against the decision but, in a surprise announcement in April Zambia’s government said Lungu’s remains had been “formally transferred” to the state by the South African court.
But just a few hours later, the same South African court ordered the Zambian government to return the body until the matter went to court again.
The former president died of an undisclosed illness aged 68 at a clinic in Pretoria. Chaos ensued following his death, with mourners receiving conflicting information from the government and Lungu’s political party, the Patriotic Front (PF).
Two separate mourning periods were announced and at one point there were competing condolence books.
Lungu, who led Zambia from 2015 until 2021, had numerous rows with Hichilema, who was the opposition leader for many years before finally unseating his bitter rival.
After Lungu’s death, his family said the ex-president did not want Hichilema to be at his funeral or “anywhere near” his body.
In this latest ruling at the Supreme Court of Appeal, the judges said it was clear that the former president “viewed himself to be persona non grata in his own country” of Zambia and “felt that he would not be afforded a dignified send-off” if his successor was present.
[BBC]
More than 5,300 people remain trapped in online scam centres in Myanmar near the Thai border, despite a multinational crackdown in the region last year, a human rights group says.
The Thai-based Civil Society Network for Human Trafficking Victim Assistance (CSNHTV) sent a letter to Thai police urging them to take action. It said many of those trapped were foreign nationals held at four locations inside areas controlled by the Myanmar Democratic Karen Buddhist Army militia.
According to the CSNHTV, an estimated 1,600 people trapped are Chinese nationals, and about 200 are people of Myanmar, along with people from the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brazil, Russia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe.
“Many of these compounds have yet to be dismantled or subjected to rescue operations to free all remaining victims,” it said.
“As a result, these syndicates continue to engage in online fraud and human trafficking, causing harm to victims around the world, particularly in the United States and Europe.”
Scam centres in Southeast Asia, including those in Myanmar and Cambodia, run illegal online schemes that are designed to defraud people worldwide.
The centres grew significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, and were initially tied to poorly run casinos and online gambling. They have now become a multibillion-dollar industry, according to the United Nations.
A UN report in February said the facilities are mostly staffed by foreign nationals who have been trafficked by criminal gangs and subjected to abuse.
It found instances of “torture and other ill-treatment, sexual abuse and exploitation, forced abortions, food deprivation, solitary confinement, among other grave human rights abuses”.
“The litany of abuse is staggering and at the same time heart-breaking,” UN Human Rights chief Volker Turk said.
“Yet, rather than receiving protection, care and rehabilitation as well as the pathways to justice and redress to which they are entitled, victims too often face disbelief, stigmatisation and even further punishment.”
[Aljazeera]
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