Nigerian sextortion scammers brag about their crimes on TikTok, which have led to the suicides of 38 US teen boys

“Hey I have ur nudes and everything needed to ruin your life.”

Thirty-eight teenage boys in the US have died by suicide since 2021 after falling victim to “sextortion” scammers, a top cybercrimes investigator told me.

Two networks have been identified as the main ones behind the sick schemes: Nigeria’s Yahoo Boys, who do it for profit, and the US-Europe-centered 764 gang, who are, more worryingly, sexual sadists, according to Paul Raffile, who has personally investigated many of the suicides.

“These criminals can add 100 kids [per] Instagram account and hope that 30 accept the friend request and hope that 10 actually engage with them. So it’s really a numbers game,” Raffile said, adding the Nigerian operation has thousands of members.