A viral social media post has renewed attention on the tragic case of Jordan DeMay, a 17-year-old American teenager whose death was linked by U.S. prosecutors to an international online sextortion scheme involving Nigerian nationals.
DeMay, from Marquette, Michigan, died by suicide on March 25, 2022, after being targeted online by individuals who prosecutors said posed as a teenage girl and persuaded him to send an explicit image before demanding money and threatening to distribute it.
U.S. authorities later charged three Nigerian men in connection with the wider sextortion operation, which prosecutors said targeted more than 100 victims, including minors.
Two brothers, Samuel and Samson Ogoshi, eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to sexually exploit minors. In September 2024, both were sentenced in the United States to 210 months in prison, equivalent to 17 years and six months, followed by five years of supervised release.
The case has continued to feature in discussions about online safety, cybercrime and the growing threat of sextortion against young people. The FBI and other authorities have repeatedly warned that offenders can use fake identities and social-media accounts to establish contact with potential victims before using intimate material for extortion.
The images circulating online should therefore be treated with caution, particularly where they appear to identify individuals or suggest involvement in a particular crime without accompanying verified evidence.
Authorities have urged young people who receive threats involving intimate images not to pay or comply with demands, but to preserve evidence and seek help from trusted adults and law-enforcement agencies.
