Two Nigerian brothers who blackmailed a 17-year-old in a sextortion scam heard Thursday that they are going to jail in the US for 17 years and six months.
The Ogoshi brothers, from Lagos, Nigeria convinced Jordan DeMay to transmit explicit pictures of himself over the internet by conning him into believing it was actually a teenage girl sending the text messages. When he complied, the brothers demanded payment, BBC News reported.
DeMay didn’t send any money but committed suicide less than six hours after learning of the brothers’ sextortion scheme. It is the first time that Nigerians have been prosecuted for sextorting in the US. The cyber-crime is not only increasing in frequency in the US, it is often attempted by Nigerians.
DeMay’s mother, Jenn Buta, read a victim impact statement to the court, in lieu of her son. As she held pictures of her son, she cried and said, "I am shattered to my core." Although she was glad to see the trial close, she said there would be no happy ending for her.
The deceased teen was popular in his Michigan school when he received an Instagram friend request from Samuel Ogoshi, 24, and Samson Ogoshi, 21. The duo pretended to be a pretty teenage girl and used the usual come-on language to entice DeMay into an online relationship and lure him into sending sexualized pictures.
When he dutifully sent the photos, the duo tried to blackmail the student for hundreds of dollars, saying they would send the pictures to his friends if he didn’t provide the money. DeMay gave the brothers all the available money he had but told the scammers that he would kill himself if any of his friends or family saw the pictures. The thieves replied: “Good… Do that fast—or I'll make you do it.”
John DeMay found his son’s dead body in his bedroom and he told the court that he has recurring nightmares about the event.
In April, the brothers pleaded guilty to conspiring to sexually exploit teenage boys in Michigan and across the US. Thirty-eight other youths were also targeted by the pair, 13 of whom were minors. Sextortion has led to other suicides among American youths.
The brothers' defense attorneys blamed drug abuse and what appears to be a casual acceptance of sextortion in Nigeria. But the judge said their activities demonstrated a "callous disregard for life," specifically noting that the two continued their crimes even after being informed of DeMay’s death.
After hearing the victim's impact statement, the brothers apologized to the DeMays. "I'm sorry to the family. We made a bad decision to make money and I wish I could change that," Samson Ogoshi said.
The brothers were prosecuted in the US after American law enforcement was able to find them in Nigeria last summer and then have them extradited for trial.
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