The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says it has arrested 22 suspects in Nigeria amid an escalating campaign to curb financially-driven sextortion scams that are reportedly pushing American teens to suicide.
The FBI announced on Thursday in a statement seen by Technology Times that the sextortion schemes, allegedly coordinated by individuals in Nigeria, have cost victims in the United States nearly $65 million over the last two years, with the alarming trend now prompting international law enforcement collaboration to counter the crisis.
“Over the last two years, there have been nearly $65 million dollars in financial losses due to this crime,” the FBI says in the statement.
The FBI announced on Thursday in a statement seen by Technology Times that the sextortion schemes, allegedly coordinated by individuals in Nigeria, have cost victims in the United States nearly $65 million over the last two years, with the alarming trend now prompting international law enforcement collaboration to counter the crisis.
The law enforcement agency confirms the deployment of “a surge of resources and personnel” to Nigeria under Operation Artemis, a first-of-its-kind global sting targeting the rise in teen suicides tied to sextortion blackmail originating from Nigerian cybercrime syndicates.
“Operation Artemis exemplifies the FBI’s never-ending mission to protect our most vulnerable, and to pursue the heinous criminals harming our children no matter where they hide,” Kash Patel, FBI Director says.
“The perpetrators just sit beside their computers and then they are just doing what they are doing and they think is victimless. But cybercrime, we make them understand that they are victims and the victims are going through a lot. And then it’s not something we can fold our hands and see people losing their hard-earned monies to these bad guys. So it’s a serious thing. Nigeria as a country is fighting and supporting the agency to ensure that we overcome this. Because our youths are derailed into this and then the country cannot fold its arms and see these guys going this way,” Michael Wetkas, zonal commander for Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission office in Lagos adds.
“So the EFCC,” Wetkas adds, “is leading that fight. And then we are doing a lot and we are partnering a lot with the FBI and other agencies across the world to ensure that we achieve success in that regard.
“For us, the joint operations and the collaboration is of mutual benefit to our countries. Now, on the other side, we are here. The terrain is ours. We know the terrain very, very well. No matter how good the FBI is, they may not be able to penetrate our terrain the way we will do. So they will find us very useful in that regard, in that partnership. The FBI also have the techniques the equipment, and other things. And they have been in this business for a very, very long time. So we have a lot to learn from them, too, as well.”
This Operation Artemis, Wetkas adds, “is one of the most successful operations we have had with the FBI. A lot of them have been extradited back to the U.S. where they will stand trial. And we’re still pursuing a lot of them. And we hope to get every single one of them. Because with the kind of collaboration that we have and the determination and commitment we have, I don’t see anything stopping us from getting these guys no matter where they are.”
FBI ties Nigerian sextortion syndicates to teen suicides
The U.S. agency says that approximately half of the arrested suspects in Nigeria are allegedly linked to cases involving minors who died by suicide after falling prey to these digital manipulation and extortion tactics.
The sextortion scams, according to the FBI, usually begin with social media contact, where perpetrators impersonate friends or romantic partners, luring teens into sending explicit images. Once trust is gained, the attackers turn predatory.
“Once trust or rapport was established, often through conversation in chatrooms or direct messages, the suspects coerced their victims into taking and sharing compromising images of themselves,” the FBI discloses.
Victims are then blackmailed, with threats to leak explicit content unless payments are made via gift cards, mobile transfers, wire payments, or cryptocurrency. In many cases, the threats continue even after payment.
The FBI calls this a psychological cycle of abuse, with victims often suffering in silence, unaware that many others are experiencing the same trauma.
Global effort to dismantle sextortion rings
The FBI-led operation is involving cooperation from law enforcement agencies across Nigeria, the UK, Canada, and Australia. In Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is being commended by the FBI for its partnership and contributions to the ongoing investigations.
The Bureau adds that extradition proceedings are already underway, with three Nigerian suspects extradited to the U.S.—one linked to the suicide of a South Carolina teenager, and two others connected to a similar case in Pennsylvania.
“It was during these investigative steps that the commonality of perpetrators residing in Nigeria began to grow and paint a larger, more international scope of this crime,” the FBI reveals.
Sextortion surges as teenage boys remain main targets
Between October 2024 and March 2025, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center reports a 30% increase in sextortion-related tips. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) also logs over 54,000 victims in 2024, up from 34,000 in the previous year, with boys aged 14 to 17 being the most affected demographic.
The FBI stresses that over the past three years, more than 20 minors in the U.S. have died by suicide after being extorted by online predators—many of whom investigations now trace to Nigeria.
As the operation unfolds, suspects remain presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, the agency notes, even as more extraditions are expected in the coming months.
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