The FBI says two Nigerian men have been extradited to the
\nUnited States for a sextortion scam targeting children, including cases in
\nNorth Carolina. <\/p>\n
Adebola Festus Adekunle, 26 and Mudasiru Afeez Olawale, 24, both
\nof Nigeria, were arrested in 2023 as part of a wider operation with the FBI to
\napprehend sexual extortionists targeting minors in the United States. <\/p>\n
The FBI alleges the suspects pretended
\nto be a love interest for the juveniles and solicited lewd photos. After they
\ngot the photos, they\u2019d threaten to release them publicly unless they paid a
\nransom. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey use the threats that if they
\ndon\u2019t pay any of these extortion demands, they\u2019ll release those compromising
\nphotographs of the juveniles to their friends, family, the general public,
\nschoolmates and anyone else they can think of,\u201d Reid Davis, FBI Special Agent
\nin Charge of North Carolina said. \u201cThe scammer turns from being a girlfriend
\ntype of a figure to beginning to extort them for money.\u201d <\/p>\n
Davis says, in some cases, the
\ncases go from extortion to something more tragic. <\/p>\n
Olawale\u2019s most serious charge is
\nfor sexual exploitation of minors resulting in death.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a number of victims
\nwho, after not paying up, go to extreme ends to commit suicide as their only
\noption out of the situation they\u2019re in,\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n
Davis said, parents should contact
\nthem immediately if a situation like this occurs. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn most instances, we can resolve
\nthe matter,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to result in the tragic situation
\nlike the suicide of the child.\u201d <\/p>\n
The best way to avoid that type of
\ntragic outcome, Davis says, is to make sure there is an open, and trusting,
\nline of communication between parents and their children. <\/p>\n
\u201cMake sure there is a relationship
\nthat, if your child is being scammed, they have the ability and confidence to
\ncome to the parent about it,\u201d Davis said. \u201cAnd knowing, as parents, who your
\nchild is communicating with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis says, if you never met the person
\nyour child is communicating with, that\u2019s a major red flag. <\/p>\n
While these two men are Nigerian
\nnationals, Davis warns parents that the threat may be much closer to home. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s happening all over the place
\nin every community across the country,\u201d Davis said. \u201cNo juvenile is safe from
\nthese types of acts. Anytime a scam is successful, more and more people will be
\ninvolved in them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Davis points to these arrests from
\noverseas as an indication of how seriously they take the threat. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, but it\u2019s certainly
\nwithin our realm to do so,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThe latest two are just that; the
\nlatest two. We\u2019ve been successful over the last couple of years in bringing
\nback conspirators no matter where they\u2019re at. These two happen to be from
\nNigeria, but the long arm of the law will reach anywhere in the glove if you\u2019re
\ntargeting the nation\u2019s youth.\u201d <\/p>\n
Olawale faces charges of sexual exploitation of minors
\nresulting in death, enticement of minors, interstate threatening communications
\nand distribution of child pornography.<\/p>\n
Olawale faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and
\nmandatory minimum prison sentences on at least two charges. The child
\nexploitation resulting in death charge carries a minimum penalty of 30 years in
\nprison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Mississippi, Adekunle is charged with sexual exploitation
\nof a minor resulting in death. Coercion and enticement of a minor and
\ninterstate threats with intent to extort. He too faces a maximum penalty of
\nlife in prison and mandatory minimum prison sentences on at least two charges.
\nThe child exploitation resulting in death charge carries a minimum penalty of
\n30 years in prison there. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The FBI says two Nigerian men have been extradited to the United States for a sextortion scam targeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3071,2765,15127,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-834691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-crime","tag-fbi","tag-greensboro","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}