Shamrock Updates: August 2026
Operation Shamrock Newsletter
Friends,
Last month's travels took me to Nigeria. Paul Raffile and I went there with a very specific goal: Find the criminals targeting teens and young adults in sextortion scams. We succeeded.
Sponsored by SumSub, our trip represents one of the first times American investigators have documented — and confronted — these networks directly in Nigeria. We met the scammers. We asked what platforms they use to commit the crimes. We asked how they became involved in sextortion. We asked if they knew they were responsible for teen suicides worldwide.
A form of extortion that often targets young men and boys, sextortion involves enticing them to send compromising photos to someone they believe is a romantic interest. Once they've sent photos, the scammers threaten to expose them to their family, friends, and community unless they pay. Watch the video to get the story and see how far scammers will go to make money by traumatizing our kids.
Erin West
Founder, Operation Shamrock
Did You Know?
Build your knowledge about scams.
How to Support a Loved One Involved in a Romance Scam What can a family do when someone they love is involved in a romance scam? Look beyond the scam itself to ask deeper questions and support your loved one’s emotional needs.
How Scammers Get Your Personal Data — And Use It Against You The organizations behind fraud and scams use your personal data to create “shadow profiles” that fuel personalized scams.
Business Email Compromise: Trust as an Attack Surface The FBI report lists BEC as one of the most financially devastating cyber threats, targeting everyone from Fortune 500 organizations to small businesses.
Stolen Podcast: July Episodes
How Romance Fraud Hijacks Your Brain Chemistry Anna Rowe, fraud survivor and co-founder of LoveSaid.org, explains why romance fraud works and why it’s important to change the language people use to talk about it.
You Can’t Believe Your Eyes: The Deepfake Crisis Carl Bogan talks about the evolution of deepfakes — from his pioneering viral video to today’s need to protect businesses and consumers from scams and fraud.
How Crypto, the Dark Web, and Fentanyl Deaths Are Connected Keven Hendricks, a 20-year law enforcement veteran, pulls back the curtain on the dark web and the connections with cybercrime and drug sales.
Romance Fraud: One Woman’s Journey from Target to Survivor A scammer used calculated, precise psychological manipulation in a six-month romance fraud that dismantled Kirsty’s finances, her sense of self, and nearly her life.
THANK YOU TO OUR STOLEN PODCAST SPONSORS
We are grateful to Scamnetic and BioCatch for their support of Stolen and the work they do to detect and prevent scams every day.
Share Your Scam Story
Share your experience to help educate our teams, the public, and the organizations we work with. The Survivor Stories program is an opportunity to help us better educate others to protect themselves and improve support for people affected by scams. >> Sign Up
How to Support Operation Shamrock
Transnational organized crime syndicates steal hundreds of billions of dollars, household by household, every year.
Donations allow us to continue our work and build capacity to expand education, foster private-public connections, and take action in the fight against scams. If you’re unable to donate, sharing our message is a great way to support our efforts.
Operation Shamrock is registered in the U.S. as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.