2023-06-15 22:53:43
A Michigan family is raising the alarm about sextortion scams on social media that, in their case, cost them the life of their son, Jordan DeMay, who killed himself on March 25, 2022.
Jordan DeMay, a student at Marquette Senior High School, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At first, it was thought to be a common suicide. But investigations by the police and by the family themselves revealed a terrifying reality: behind the death of his son there was extortion, or sextortion.
According to Fox News Digital, months before his death, 17-year-old DeMay was contacted by an Instagram user who identified herself as dani.robertts.
“Someone came to his bedroom at 3 in the morning and murdered him through Instagram when we were all sleeping at night, and we had zero chance of stopping him,” lamented John DeMay, Jordan’s father, who assured that his son was a good student, a great athlete and a smart boy.
The Instagram account that contacted Jordan had been hacked and sold to Samuel Ogoshi, a 22-year-old Nigerian who allegedly used the profile to force young men to send him explicit images of themselves, Fox said. Jordan agreed to send intimate images of himself, like many other of the victims, thinking that he was doing it with a woman interested in him.
The authorities found a disturbing conversation that would have unleashed the tragedy.
-“I can send these nudes to the whole world and also send your nudes until they go viral,” Ogoshi wrote to Jordan after the young man sent an explicit photo of himself.
-“Just pay me [ahora mismo] and I won’t expose you,” Ogoshi stated.
“How much?” Jordan asked.
Ogoshi asked him for a thousand dollars (just over 17 thousand Mexican pesos) but the teenager only managed to collect 300 (five thousand 132 Mexican pesos). Annoyed, Ogoshi threatened him that he would expose the photo if he didn’t send everything he asked for.
DeMay then told him that he was going to kill himself, but for all response, Ogoshi told him, “Fine. Make it quick. Or I’ll make you do it. I swear to God.”
Jordan got a gun and without telling his parents what he was going through, he decided to take his own life.
“I monitored her phone as much as anyone could. I tracked her GPS. I monitored her text messages. I monitored her usage. I locked her phone.” But over time, as his son grew older, he stopped doing it, said Jordan’s father, who asks parents to be alert to the dangers of social media.
When the investigation revealed that the suicide was the product of sextortion, the police went to work. Once they found Ogoshi, a 22-year-old, he notified the Nigerian authorities, who arrested him along with two other men: Samson Ogoshi, 20, and Ezekiel Ejehem Robert, 19. They all live in Lagos and They were accused of sexually extorting more than 100 young people and adolescents in the United States.
The investigation is still open and the Nigerian authorities are waiting to finalize procedures to extradite the young people to the United States. The charges for which they are accused carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment and a minimum of 30 years.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation warned that it “has seen a huge increase in the number of cases of children and adolescents being threatened and coerced into sending explicit images online, a crime called sextortion.”
Last year, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline received some 32 million reports of alleged child sexual exploitation, The New York Post reported. Cases of “online incitement” increased 82% between 2021 and 2022, according to the report.
Suicide is a very complex mental health problem. Talking about wanting to die is a behavior that should be taken seriously and offer help to whoever manifests it. Other warning signs are:
– Talking about feeling that there is no hope or that there is no reason to live
• Talk about feeling trapped or having excruciating pain.
• Talk about being a burden to other people.
• Increase use of alcohol or drugs
• Act anxious, agitated, or dangerous.
• Sleeping too little or too much
• Isolating or feeling isolated
• Show anger or talk about getting even.
• exhibit extremes of temperament
If you detect any of these or several signs, do not leave her alone, ask for help from a medical specialist, psychologist, thanatologist or therapist. Remove any weapons, substances, alcohol, drugs, or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt.
Due to the confinement, the number of requests for support for stress, anxiety, depression, violence and substance use increased, which were received through the social networks of Línea de la Vida @LaLineaDeLaVidamx and @LineaDe_LaVida, as well as by telephone 800 911 2000.
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