Three years after a California teenager’s heartbreaking suicide, authorities in West Africa have arrested four men in connection with an international financial sextortion scheme that targeted thousands of minors worldwide.
The DOJ announced on Friday that Alfred Kassi, Oumarou Ouedraogo, Moussa Diaby, and Oumar Cisse, all from Côte d’Ivoire, were arrested by Ivorian authorities last month.
Due to Côte d’Ivoire’s laws against extraditing its citizens, the suspects will face cybercrime charges in their home country.
The arrests come after Ryan Last, 17, committed suicide in February 2022 after being deceived online by someone he mistook for a 20-year-old woman.
The individual threatened to post intimate photos of the teenager unless he paid her $5,000. When Last stated that he couldn’t afford that, the payment was reduced to $150.
After paying the $150, more payment demands were issued.
Following his death, his mother, Pauline Stuart, revealed that Last’s suicide note expressed regret for not realizing he was being duped.
“We’re feeling grateful that [law enforcement officials] didn’t give up and they continued to work,” Last’s mother, Pauline Stuart, told the Los Angeles Times about the recent arrests. “Unfortunately, it won’t bring Ryan back.
It is one of those two-edged swords. My son is still missing, but I’m hoping that this arrest raises awareness and scares off scammers, who often feel safe in a foreign country. They do not believe they can be touched.
Following a lengthy investigation by US and Ivorian law enforcement, Kassi was identified as the alleged perpetrator of the sextortion. When arrested, Kassi allegedly had the sextortion messages between him and Last on his phone.
Ouedraogo, Diaby, and Cisse were arrested for their roles in laundering the illicit funds.
Diaby and Cisse, identified as members of Kassi’s alleged sextortion network, have admitted to their own involvement in similar crimes.
Meanwhile, a US-based associate, Jonathan Kassi (unrelated to Alfred Kassi), was convicted in a California State Court in 2023 and sentenced to 18 months in jail.
Financial sextortion differs from traditional sextortion. The FBI defines financial sextortion as offenders coercing children into sending explicit material and then threatening to release it unless paid.
Traditional sextortion often involves offenders using explicit content to pressure victims into producing more, trapping them in a cycle of fear and shame that prevents them from seeking assistance.
