14-year-old North Dakota boy dies by suicide after sextortion scheme via fake Facebook account

Summary

A 14-year-old North Dakota boy committed suicide after being targeted in a sextortion scheme by a man from the Ivory Coast. The man, Aly Cherif, also known by several aliases, was charged with cyberstalking resulting in death, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, extortion, and distribution of child pornography. The indictment alleges that Cherif and others in the Ivory Coast created a fake Facebook account posing as a 20-year-old woman named "Emily Thompson" to lure the boy. The sextortion group recorded the boy engaging in private, intimate acts and then threatened to release the videos unless he paid money. After the boy said he had no money, the group distributed the images online, leading to his suicide. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and FBI are pursuing justice and urging awareness about the dangers of sextortion.