17-year-old high school student dies by suicide after sextortion blackmail by online criminals in Côte d’Ivoire

Summary

A 17-year-old high school student from Morgan Hill, California, died by suicide in February 2022 after being blackmailed by a criminal group through a sextortion scheme. The perpetrators, who pretended to be a 20-year-old woman, threatened to post intimate photos of the student online unless he paid them money. The student was targeted by a group based in Côte d’Ivoire, who demanded $5,000 initially and later reduced it to $150 after he paid that amount, but continued to demand more money. Four individuals in Côte d’Ivoire were arrested in April 2023 for their involvement in the sextortion scheme, including Alfred Kassi, who was found to still have the extortion messages on his phone at the time of his arrest. A fifth suspect, Jonathan Kassi, was arrested in the U.S. in December 2022 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. The case has contributed to increased attention on sextortion, with federal legislation like the Shield Act being introduced to address gaps in current laws.