WARNING: This article contains details of sexual extortion and may affect those who have experienced it or know someone affected by it.
RCMP are hailing the conviction and sentencing of a man in Nigeria who tried to blackmail a Surrey, B.C., teenager by posting his intimate images online, saying “sextortions and fraud” will not be tolerated by society.
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said Olukeye Adedayo was sentenced last week to prison terms totalling 76 years, after offences that the RCMP said resulted in the boy’s “sudden death” in February 2023.
Nigeria’s financial crimes agency said in social media posts that Adedayo faced 18 charges, including possession and distribution of child pornography, attempted extortion by threats, and money laundering.
It said Adedayo set up an Instagram group using the boy’s name to distribute the images, which the RCMP said the 14-year-old thought he had sent to a teenage girl in an online interaction that was over within minutes.
Surrey RCMP have announced charges in a tragic sexual extortion case involving a 14-year-old boy. Police say the former student athlete took his own life after he was blackmailed by an online scammer in Nigeria. As Jon Hernandez reports, this is just one of a growing number of sextortion cases.
The RCMP said in a statement that Adedayo’s conviction came after an international effort.
“The conviction and sentencing … is the result of an intense year-long international investigation,” said the statement from the Surrey Provincial Operations Support Unit.
“This outcome came from collaborative efforts from the Surrey RCMP, the FBI, the Australian Federal Police and the (Nigerian) Economic and Financial Crime Commission … We believe this case delivers a strong message that sextortions and fraud will not be tolerated in our community.”
“We extend our thoughts to the family and friends of the young victim in this file. We hope that the conclusion of the court process provides them closure.”
The Mounties didn’t name the boy, but at a news conference last year, said he had been correctly identified in media reports about a 14-year-old from Surrey who died by suicide.
Sentences to run concurrently
The Nigerian agency said Adedayo pleaded not guilty to all counts, but a judge convicted him of all charges and sentenced him last Thursday.
However, the agency said the 18 sentences are to run concurrently, suggesting the longest sentence he’ll serve is seven years for each of the four counts of obtaining property under false pretences.
The commission said the prosecution witnesses included a sergeant with the RCMP Serious Crime Unit.
A charge quoted by the commission said that Adedayo created the Instagram group with the explicit images on or about Feb. 13, 2023.
The boy’s hockey team posted a condolence message saying he died the next day.
Police said in last year’s news conference that the 14-year-old had been a target of sextortion, in which he had been fooled into thinking a person asking for intimate images over Instagram and Snapchat was a teenage girl.
The perpetrator then told the boy to buy them gift cards to prevent the images from being distributed online, police said. The interactions were only minutes long, investigators added.
Police provided a statement from the boy’s family last February, saying he was an “innocent child” who loved life and loved hockey, and he was taken advantage of.
“As we grieve the loss of our son, we want other parents to know this could happen to anyone,” the statement said.
“Talk to your kids about internet safety, and keep the door to communication open, so they can come to you for help.”
The death of a B.C. boy is renewing the conversation about how to protect kids from online sexual extortion. Experts say it’s often teenage boys who are targeted.
The U.S.-based Network Contagion Research Institute released a report into a spate of sextortion attempts originating from Nigeria last year.
The organization’s threat intelligence report talks about a “digital pandemic” of sextortion incidents said to have risen 1,000 per cent in the preceding 18 months.
Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access crisis lines and local support services through this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
If you or someone you know is struggling, here’s where to get help:
This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you’re worried about.
