By Gabriella Ogbu
According to Australian authorities on Monday, two individuals were taken into custody in Nigeria for allegedly attempting to extort an Australian teenager by threatening to post incriminating images of him online.
Investigators indicated that the child committed suicide as a result of threats he received from those involved in the purported “sextortion” scheme.
According to Australian authorities, the males had been communicating with the adolescent via the internet and threatened to publish “personal photos of the boy” unless he paid them Aus$500 (US$330). Sextortion is a growing type of cybercrime where a con artist poses as an online romantic partner and coerces an unsuspecting victim into sending them explicit photos.
If the victim doesn’t pay, they then threaten to release the photos.
Police claimed to have located the two men in “a slum in Nigeria” after collaborating with officials in both South Africa and Nigeria. They also mentioned that local authorities in Nigeria “have the power to prosecute for Australian-based offences.” “These arrests demonstrate that child sextortion is a worldwide crime,” Australian Federal Police commander Helen Schneider stated.
