WARNING: This text accommodates particulars of sexual extortion and should have an effect on those that have skilled it or know somebody affected by it.
RCMP are hailing the conviction and sentencing of a person in Nigeria who tried to blackmail a Surrey, B.C., teenager by posting his intimate pictures on-line, saying “sextortions and fraud” won’t be tolerated by society.
Nigeria’s Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee mentioned Olukeye Adedayo was sentenced final week to jail phrases totalling 76 years, after offences that the RCMP mentioned resulted within the boy’s “sudden loss of life” in February 2023.
Nigeria’s monetary crimes company mentioned in social media posts that Adedayo confronted 18 fees, together with possession and distribution of kid pornography, tried extortion by threats, and cash laundering.
It mentioned Adedayo arrange an Instagram group utilizing the boy’s title to distribute the photographs, which the RCMP mentioned the 14-year-old thought he had despatched to a teenage lady in a web-based interplay that was over inside minutes.
Surrey RCMP have introduced fees in a tragic sexual extortion case involving a 14-year-old boy. Police say the previous scholar athlete took his personal life after he was blackmailed by a web-based scammer in Nigeria. As Jon Hernandez reviews, this is only one of a rising variety of sextortion circumstances.
The RCMP mentioned in a press release that Adedayo’s conviction got here after a global effort.
“The conviction and sentencing … is the results of an intense year-long worldwide investigation,” mentioned the assertion from the Surrey Provincial Operations Help Unit.
“This final result got here from collaborative efforts from the Surrey RCMP, the FBI, the Australian Federal Police and the (Nigerian) Financial and Monetary Crime Fee … We consider this case delivers a powerful message that sextortions and fraud won’t be tolerated in our group.”
“We lengthen our ideas to the household and pals of the younger sufferer on this file. We hope that the conclusion of the courtroom course of gives them closure.”
The Mounties did not title the boy, however at a information convention final 12 months, mentioned he had been appropriately recognized in media reviews a couple of 14-year-old from Surrey who died by suicide.
Sentences to run concurrently
The Nigerian company mentioned Adedayo pleaded not responsible to all counts, however a choose convicted him of all fees and sentenced him final Thursday.
Nevertheless, the company mentioned the 18 sentences are to run concurrently, suggesting the longest sentence he’ll serve is seven years for every of the 4 counts of acquiring property below false pretences.
The fee mentioned the prosecution witnesses included a sergeant with the RCMP Critical Crime Unit.
A cost quoted by the fee mentioned that Adedayo created the Instagram group with the specific pictures on or about Feb. 13, 2023.
The boy’s hockey group posted a condolence message saying he died the following day.
Police mentioned in final 12 months’s information convention that the 14-year-old had been a goal of sextortion, wherein he had been fooled into considering an individual asking for intimate pictures over Instagram and Snapchat was a teenage lady.
The perpetrator then informed the boy to purchase them reward playing cards to stop the photographs from being distributed on-line, police mentioned. The interactions had been solely minutes lengthy, investigators added.
Police supplied a press release from the boy’s household final February, saying he was an “harmless youngster” who beloved life and beloved hockey, and he was taken benefit of.
“As we grieve the lack of our son, we wish different mother and father to know this might occur to anybody,” the assertion mentioned.
“Speak to your youngsters about web security, and hold the door to communication open, to allow them to come to you for assist.”
The loss of life of a B.C. boy is renewing the dialog about the way to shield youngsters from on-line sexual extortion. Consultants say it is typically teenage boys who’re focused.
The U.S.-based Community Contagion Analysis Institute launched a report right into a spate of sextortion makes an attempt originating from Nigeria final 12 months.
The group’s menace intelligence report talks a couple of “digital pandemic” of sextortion incidents mentioned to have risen 1,000 per cent within the previous 18 months.
Help is out there for anybody who has been sexually assaulted. You possibly can entry disaster strains and native assist companies by way of this Authorities of Canada web site or the Ending Violence Affiliation of Canada database. In the event you’re in rapid hazard or concern on your security or that of others round you, please name 911.
In the event you or somebody you realize is struggling, this is the place to get assist:
This information from the Centre for Habit and Psychological Well being outlines the way to speak about suicide with somebody you are nervous about.
