![]() Scribd did not reply to a request for comment.Ī YouTube spokesperson, Javier Hernandez, said that the company removed several videos and one channel after NBC News asked about Yahoo Boys content on the platform. A spokesperson said in an email that they had violated the platform’s guidelines against scams. If you do not want it to happen you will have to pay me.” And later, “How much you got there If you are thinking of 200$ forget it I’m posting your nude and gonna make you die in pain.”Īfter NBC News asked TikTok about several Yahoo Boys videos, the company removed them. The document said, for example, “You ready to comply with me? I will make you so miserable that you can’t even think … I will send your nude to lots of people online … Do you want this to happen – yes or no. The video contained a walk-through on how to threaten a victim and coerce them into sending payments, at which point the narrator admitted this activity would be “high risk.”Ī document posted to Scribd contained a script with seductive and explicit enticements leading to escalating threats. One video posted to YouTube instructed viewers on how to “catch a client,” keep them engaged by acting “like a real girl,” and how to convince them to send increasingly explicit photos. ![]() NBC News and CNBC reviewed some of these materials still up on all three platforms. The materials on the various sites had been viewed over half a million times, according to the NCRI analysis. They also found scripts on Scribd teaching others how to extort their victims using similar search terms. The NCRI researchers said they found dozens of videos on TikTok and YouTube that showed self-described Yahoo Boys engaging in sextortion by using easily searchable phrases like “blackmail format” or hashtags like #YahooBoys. NCRI’s study found that the Yahoo Boys promote their tactics and recruit new gang members, in part, by publishing training videos and guides for running a financial sextortion scam on platforms including TikTok, Scribd and YouTube. ![]() The accused party allegedly promised his marks, who Yahoo Boys often refer to as “clients,” that they would delete or at least refrain from distributing the photos if they would send money through apps like Venmo, CashApp and Zelle, cryptocurrency transfers through Bitcoin with a Binance account, or gift cards.Īs soon as they paid, however, the victims would face new threats and pressure to keep making payments, the filings said. In this case, the indictment reads, the accused Nigerian man and unidentified co-conspirators used fake accounts on Facebook and Snapchat to pose as attractive young women, connect to young male users and gain access to their friends and follower lists, and then entice the victims into sending them explicit photos. Secret Service that he engaged in Yahoo Boys tactics, including sextortion and wire fraud of $2.5 million The men pleaded not guilty and were denied bail in September.Īnd in November, according to court filings obtained by CNBC and NBC News, a grand jury indicted a Nigerian man in response to allegations from the U.S. ![]() to face charges in a sextortion scheme that authorities say prompted the suicide of a 17-year-old Michigan high school student. In August 2023, NBC News reported that two Nigerian men were extradited to the U.S. ![]() This form of crime - which has mostly impacted boys and young men, according to NCRI Director of Intelligence Alex Goldenberg - can be so devastating that it drives some victims to suicide. Sextortion is a “transnational crime threat that is actually causing a significant number of American deaths,” said Paul Raffile, a senior intelligence analyst with the NCRI who co-led the study. Popular songs referencing Yahoo Boys have lent the cybercriminal gangs cultural clout.ĭespite increasing amounts of reported sextortion online over the last several years, the NCRI researchers say that platforms used by Yahoo Boys and other threat actors have been slow to moderate their materials or make changes that could help curb the spread of sextortion. Yahoo Boys’ tactics gained popularity among some as a way to get rich quickly in West Africa, where there are scant other means of earning income, according to a 2023 Atavist investigation. NCRI, a nonprofit, found cybercriminals used the social apps Instagram, Snapchat and Wizz to find and connect with their marks. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |