Samuel and Samson Ogoshi from Lagos, Nigeria, have been sentenced to 210 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, per a recent FBI report. The brothers were convicted for their roles in a sextortion scheme that tragically led to the death of 17-year-old high school student Jordan DeMay from Marquette, Michigan, on March 25, 2022.
The brothers orchestrated a complex sextortion operation that targeted over 100 victims, including at least 11 identified minors. By purchasing hacked social media accounts, they masqueraded as young women to lure victims into producing sexually explicit images.Â
The duo conducted thorough online research to gather personal information about their targets, increasing the psychological leverage over them.
After obtaining compromising images, the Ogoshi brothers would create collages combining these images with other personal photographs and identifiers, such as pictures of the victim's school, family, and friends. These were used to threaten victims with exposure unless they paid a ransom.
They were sentenced for the crime of conspiracy to exploit minors sexually. The Ogoshi brothers' actions have been described in court as part of a broader trend of digital crimes that exploit vulnerabilities in social media platforms and target unsuspecting individuals.
The Ogoshi Brothers were extradited to the United States in August 2023 and pled guilty in April 2024. A Nigerian court ordered the third defendant, Ezekiel Robert, to be extradited to the U.S. on March 21, 2024.
Recently, the encrypted messaging app Telegram deleted 25 digital sex crime videos involving deepfakes pointed out by the Korea Communications Standards Commission and apologized to the Commission.