TEENAGER Cai Davies looked horrified at a message on his phone before typing back a hurried response.
The 18-year-old told his blackmailer he couldn’t respond to their demand for money because he was in hospital with his grandma.
Cai Davies took his own life after being targeted by a sextortion scam Credit: WNS
Yahoo Boys, like Ray Hushpuppi (pictured) flaunt their wealth online despite it coming from the vile scam Credit: Instagram / @hushpuppi
The crooks used to use scripts that were shared with each other online Credit: Supplied
16-year-old Dinal De Alwis took his own life after Nigerian scammers threatened to share his nudes Credit: http://www.justgiving.com
, having taken his own life – the latest victim of West African sextortion gangs known as .
Cai is believed to be the fourth British teen to have ended their own lives after being targeted by the twisted gangs,
They lure their targets into sending explicit images before blackmailing them – threatening to send the pictures or video to friends and family unless they pay up.
They contacted Cai posing as a young woman from London called Melissa Calvert and encouraged him to send intimate photos and videos before extorting cash from him.
The scammers post online boasting of their wealth which is gained through scams Credit: Supplied
There are fears that disgraced Insta star Ray Hushpuppi has potentially conned 1000s of British victims out of money Credit: Richard Rayner
The men train each other on how to scam people abroad Credit: Supplied YOU'RE NOT ALONE
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let’s all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others…
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, www.thecalmzone.net , 0800 585 858
- Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk
- Mind, www.mind.org.uk , 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus, www.papyrus-uk.org , 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, www.samaritans.org , 116 123
An inquest into Cai’s death this week heard how discovered the messages originated from the but were unable to prosecute because they couldn’t find the scammers responsible.
Experts have now told The Sun how sextortion has become “industrialised” as the scammers exchange tips online and increasingly use AI to con victims.
Professor Mark Button, co-director of the Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime, said: “It’s the new genre of romance scams.
“It might have been played with as an idea but it’s been industrialised in recent years.
“Sextortion is expanding because it’s obviously been successful for the scammer in terms of getting money and they share lots of information on how to do it on dark web channels and also things like and .
“Sadly they don’t have any qualms about the consequences of what might happen to their victims.”
Carlos Barragán, a New York Times reporter and author of The Yahoo Boys, said the practice is so vile that even the most hardened scammers have turned their backs on it.
He said: “It can be kids doing it to other kids, or even kids doing it to adults. It’s very sad.
“Sextortion scams unfortunately are the sinister evolution of a romance scam because the only way to get the money is to pressure the victim more and more. Eventually the person targeted will realise it’s a scam and stop, so the next option is blackmail.
“Over time they’ve collected all these pictures and videos that are often intimate which the victim is unlikely to want them to be shared publicly. So they’ll use it to blackmail more money from them.
“But on the other hand, for a lot of romance scammers, sextortion is a red line in the sand because they think it’s too far.”
Vulnerable teens are prime targets of the evil gangs and Cai’s inquest heard how the tragic teen’s mum had died by suicide when he was four and he lost his father to a year later.
His brother Ethan Davies told the hearing how Cai didn’t talk about the loss of his parents and struggled with ADHD and behavioural issues.
The gangs are known as the Yahoo Boys but sometimes the Sakawa in and the Brouteurs on the Ivory Coast.
They live lives of luxury with designer clothes, flash cars and expensive jewellery.
Operating from ‘hustle kingdoms’ – plush hotel rooms and rented homes – they show off wads of cash and £1000 trainers on social media platforms.
One of Instagram’s biggest fraudsters started life as a Yahoo Boy – so-called because the tricksters used Yahoo emails to con people in the 90s.
Ramon Abbas, who called himself complete with private jets, ultra-expensive cars and luxury clothes and watches after a series of cyberheists that saw him pocket millions.
The Nigerian influencer, who had 2.4million followers, was jailed for 11 years in Los Angeles in 2022.
One British mum, whose 17-year-old son was targeted by the tricksters, said Cai’s death shows how “heartless and ruthless” the scammers are.
She said: “They are truly evil and operating on such a massive scale that they are risking hundreds more teens killing themselves, and yet the only thing they care about is taking in cash.
“They are targeting vulnerable teens and convincing them, like my son, that they have details of friends on their social channels and that if money isn’t handed over, they will expose intimate pictures.
“They cornered and convinced a young man that the only way out was to end his life, leaving a grieving family in his wake who will probably never come to terms with his death, or the reasons he committed suicide.”
The scammers tried to con her son into sending them £300 before he confided in his mum.
Cai is not the only teen to take his own life after being blackmailed.
Police in are believed to be working with West African cops after the suicide of 16-year-old Murray Dowey in December 2023.
The teenager, of Dunblane, Perthshire, was tricked into sending an intimate image of himself to someone he thought was a young woman on . Then the demands for cash started before tragedy struck.
Six years ago, 16-year-old took his own life after being sent two naked pictures of himself by a ruthless extortioner demanding £100 on .
His dad Kaushallya, of Croydon, London, described Dinal as “gifted and gentle” and “the most caring son.”
Sextortion victim Murray Dowey took his own life after being threatened by scammers Credit: Justgiving
Daniel Perry, from Dunfermline, Fife, killed himself after falling victim to the romance scammers Credit: Deadline News
The scammers use AI pictures to convince their victims that they are real Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
Carlos Barragan spent time in Lagos with Yahoo Boys after his mum was targeted Credit: Unknown
In 2013, Daniel Perry, 17, of , , jumped from the Forth Road Bridge after sharing compromising Skype messages with someone he thought was an American girl.
After revealing his real identity, Daniel’s blackmailer wrote: “I will make you suffer. Pay up or you’d be better off dead.”
The Internet Watch Foundation has labelled the problem an “epidemic”
Foundation statistics, released last September, show that sextortion cases rose by 72 per cent last year to 153 cases – up from 89 the 12 months before.
Staggeringly, 97 per cent involved young boys.
Expert Alex Goldenberg, Senior Fellow at Rutgers University Miller Center, said the Yahoo Boys had become a “top priority” for international law enforcement and had branded the gangs a ‘dangerous organisation.”
He said the humber of suicides linked to the scammers could be higher than believed.
He said: “I believe the real number of suicides will be far higher than reported as often those who take thier lives will do their best to obfuscate the reason why because they so ashamed of the circumstances they find themselves in.
“The rise of generative AI (GAI) will be aiding the Yahoo Boys in their scams as it’s becoming increasingly difficult to know if you’re engaging with a real account or not.
“Plus they’re able to use this to mimic the vernacular of any of their targets, be it an American mid-west teenager or someone in .
“It’s more advanced now than when they were relying on scripts a few years ago to get around them not speaking fluent english.
“It’s become much more targeted in a way it wasn’t before.”
He said West African culture allowed the gangs to ‘celebrate’ their financial wins, adding: “If you’re able to facilitate these crimes at a huge scale then you’re regarded as a star.
“They gloat about it, they don’t hide the wealth that they generate from these horrific crimes that have led to dozens of suicides across the world.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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