PARADING the spoils of their crime on Instagram, the sick sextortion gang known as ‘Yahoo Boys’ have made thousands from British teenagers.
The flashy Nigeria-based criminals lure victims into sending explicit images before blackmailing them for cash.
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At least three UK teenagers have killed themselves after being threatened through sextortion – and earlier this month we revealed how the tricksters are now using artificial intelligence to improve their sick methods.
Here, one terrified mother – writing anonymously after reading our story – reveals how her son was left terrified after being lured in by a sickening ‘blackmail’ script as she pens a powerful warning to parents.
The door to my living room burst open as my 17-year-old son rushed in with a sheer look of terror on his face.
Wide-eyed with panic, he begged me for £300 saying: “I’ve messed up. My life is over if I don’t get the money.”
My boy was stricken as he explained he’d sent a girl he ‘met’ on WhatsApp a picture of himself.
She’d quickly sent it back to him on a split screen next to a picture of a penis – which he insisted wasn’t his.
Scrolling down the messages, I was hit by a mixture of fear and fury.
The girl claimed she’d copied all his contacts from Instagram and Snapchat and threatened to circulate the fabricated picture to them all – unless he paid up.
To prove she had access to all his friends, she also sent another screenshot of their accounts.
Chillingly, she told him that if he didn’t find the money ‘you will wish you were dead’.
I never intended on sharing my son’s story until I read a piece in The Sun which exposed the methods employed by so-called Yahoo Boys.
It was then I realised my son had been a victim just weeks earlier.
The gangs of mostly Nigerian men are targeting young Brits in online scams – and training each other how to do it.
They meet in hotel rooms they call ‘hustle kingdoms’ to show off the designer gear they’ve bagged through the scams.
One of Instagram’s biggest fraudsters started life as a Yahoo Boy.
Ramon Abbas, who called himself Ray Hushpuppi, flaunted his high-end lifestyle complete with private jets, ultra-expensive cars and luxury clothes and watches after a series of cyberheists that saw him pocket millions.
The Nigerian influencer, who had 2.4million followers, was jailed for 11 years in Los Angeles in 2022.
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It makes my stomach churn that these men can live a high-end lifestyle, especially when the suicides of three British teens have been linked to this criminal organisation.
That’s why when I read The Sun story a chill went down my spine.
The investigation had managed to obtain a ‘training script’ used by the gangs – and it was almost word for word the same threats being used against my son.
In my son’s mind he had to pay the money, no question.
They make my stomach churn
Victim’s mum
I’d only ever seen my lad in a similar state of angst twice, both involving social media, but this time his upset was tempered with obvious fear.
Even although I knew he had not shared an illicit picture I felt sick to the stomach.
There was a time when dating meant a chaste kiss or – if you were daring – a fumble but now sharing ‘dick pics’ has become the norm among some young kids.
As I read the messaged my mind raced over what to do next. How could I fix this for my traumatised boy?
Fight for justice
We needed help from the law to bring down this faceless lowlife, and anger boiled within me at the knowledge that some boys in the same position could, and may, have ended their own lives.
Going along with my son’s desire to stump up the money, I told him to ask the sender for a PayPal address in the hope police could trace them.
I called Action Fraud, who deal with scams, and they told me to call the police.
The lines were busy and as I waited my son sat next to me on the bed, texting the culprit telling them he would get the money over soon.
I told him to end the conversation right away, figuring they wouldn’t bother sharing pictures. I guessed that if he didn’t fall for their sick scam they would just move on to the next person.
I then told him to delete his social media just in case.
Who are the Yahoo Boys?
The Yahoo Boys are gangs of mainly young Nigerians who engage in mass online scams.
They contact their victims posing as attractive young girls – often using AI images – and lure them into sending illicit pictures.
Experts have labelled their methods a “public health epidemic.”
They live lives of luxury with designer clothes, flash cars and expensive jewellery.
They flash piles of cash on social media and show off Mercedes cars and £1000 Balenciaga trainers in ‘Hustle Kingdoms’ – posh hotel rooms.
They earned the nickname Yahoo-boys back in the days of Yahoo accounts when they first tried to scam people.
At least three UK teenagers have committed suicide after being threatened through sextortion – and now Nigerian-based tricksters are using artificial intelligence to improve their sick methods.
Meta last month cracked down on the twisted gangs who lure victims into sending explicit images before blackmailing them for cash.
More than 63,000 Yahoo Boy accounts have been shut down on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
The Sun recently revealed the scripts used by scammers who offer to teach other people their evil methods.
The most popular guides are readily available on TikTok, according to the experts.
Dan Sexton, chief technology officer at the Internet Watch Foundation, said: “This is a public health epidemic.
“It’s a damning indictment of online safety that it is easy enough and profitable enough to target children and young people online. It appears to be a legitimate business strategy by criminals.”
As I held on the line to talk to a police officer, he blocked the sender and deleted his WhatsApp.
Any trail back to the blackmailer was gone and, dejectedly, I hung up the phone.
Close to tears, a quieter kid sat with me, telling me he’d never be able to face the outside world again.
He kept waiting for his friends to message him but, as the minutes turned to hours, nothing happened.
Teens targeted
He went to his friend’s house where he shared what happened. I was proud of him.
He wanted his pal to know what had happened in case they ever fell into the same trap.
It saddens me that we need to warn our young men and women they can’t trust anyone they meet online, and it angers me that my son’s life was so undervalued by another human that they didn’t care about his well-being.
My heart aches for the families who lost someone because of this cruel con, and I hope the evil monsters behind it get what’s coming to them.
But most of all I’m grateful my son felt he could come to me for help and that he is still here to carry on his slightly more guarded young life.
Twisted gang’s Brit victims
At least three young Brits have taken their own lives after falling victim to online scams.
Police in Scotland are believed to be working with Nigerian cops after the suicide of 16-year-old Murray Dowey in December last year.
The teenager, of Dunblane, Perthshire, was tricked into sending an intimate image of himself to someone he thought was a young woman. Then the demands for cash started.
Murray’s devastated mum Ros told ITV she was haunted by “the panic and terror he must have been in for however long this went on, whether it was minutes or hours.
“I’m devastated for him, that he was just obviously in such a state that he thought taking his life was the only thing he could do.
“I just think they’re evil… those criminals killed our son.”
Two years ago, 16-year-old Dinal De Alwis took his own life after being sent two naked pictures of himself by a ruthless extortioner demanding £100 on Snapchat.
His dad Kaushallya, of Croydon, London, described Dinal as “gifted and gentle” and “the most caring son.”
In 2013, Daniel Perry, 17, of Dunfermline, Fife, jumped from the Forth Road Bridge after sharing compromising Skype messages with someone he thought was an American girl.
After revealing his real identity, Daniel’s blackmailer wrote: “I will make you suffer. Pay up or you’d be better off dead.”
