Exclusive: Confronting the Yahoo Boys Sextortion Scammers in Nigeria
Erin West and Paul Raffile flew 6,000 miles to try to find the criminals targeting and extorting money from teenage boys. They succeeded beyond their expectations.
Episode 63: Erin West and digital extortion researcher Paul Raffile spent six days in Nigeria looking for the criminal networks behind sextortion — the crime responsible for dozens of teen suicides in the US and worldwide. This investigative trip, sponsored by SumSub, marks one of the first times American investigators have documented these networks directly on the ground in Nigeria.
We asked these criminals directly, “What platforms help you to commit the most crimes?” Top three: Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp — all three companies owned by Meta, followed by TikTok. — Paul Raffile
Sextortion, a form of online extortion, often targets young men and boys — enticing them to send nude photos of themselves to someone they’ve been led to believe is a romantic interest. Once they’ve sent photos, the scammers threaten to expose them to their family, friends, and community and friends unless they pay money.
Paul is known for his work identifying the criminal networks and scam formats behind the epidemic targeting American teens. Recorded the day Erin and Paul returned, this episode is an unfiltered debrief of their experience.
TRIGGER WARNING: This episode discusses psychological manipulation, sextortion, teen suicide, and animal cruelty. If you’re struggling, the 988 Lifeline Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24x7 by call, chat, or text.
Erin and Paul traveled to Lagos to see if they could find and meet face-to-face with “Yahoo Boys” involved in the sextortion epidemic. They succeeded. In less than a week, they:
Used investigative tools to identify and confront a man actively trying to extort a teen
Met on camera with scammers who openly described their tactics
Witnessed a babalawo ritual performed to “charm” a real US target
An interesting element of the experience was how cooperative the Yahoo Boys were. They agreed to interviews. They answered questions. And they helped Erin and Paul navigate some pretty sketchy terrain on the way to the location of the babalawo’s ritual. “It was so strange to me to see these people with very, very kind hearts in person being able to do such horribly mean things over the internet,” Erin said.
They were forthcoming with their responses. Erin and Paul asked which platforms they use for scams. Their top three? Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp — all three companies owned by Meta. TikTok came in fourth. We’ll call it a “dishonorable mention.”
As for the payment platforms that they use to collect money from victims, it’s CashApp, Apple Pay, Apple Cash, gift cards, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, and crypto. All common apps, all easily accessible to teens — and criminals.
They refer to their victims as clients because they know you’re not gonna pay once. You’re gonna pay on repeat. — Paul Raffile, intelligence analyst
Scroll down for: Guest Bio - Chapters - Useful Links - Sponsors - More Stolen
IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW HAS BEEN TARGETED WITH SEXTORTION
Do not pay.
Screenshot everything.
Block the account.
Report it to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline (https://report.cybertip.org/).
Report it to the FBI’s IC3.gov.
If they’ve posted images to a public site, use NCMEC’s Take It Down (takeitdown.ncmec.org) to help prevent them from circulating.
Who Is Paul Raffile?
Paul Raffile is an intelligence analyst specializing in global cybercrime and transnational organized crime. He has led digital investigations across government and corporate sectors, with a focus on emerging online threats. His recent research into financial sextortion syndicates has been featured in major outlets including NBC News, Bloomberg, BBC, and The New York Times. Paul’s findings have contributed to key safety updates on leading social media platforms, helping to improve online protections for youth worldwide.
Learn More about Sextortion
Articles about extortion of teens
Previous episodes of the Stolen Podcast
Episode 33 with Paul Raffile: Sextortion Is Killing Kids: Inside the Scam Targeting Teens
Episode 22 with financial crime expert Alison Jimenez: The Financial Sextortion of Teens
Episode 17 with IJM’s Erick Heintz: Sextortion from Scam Compounds
Episode 63 Chapters
00:25 Unveiling the Dark World of Sextortion
06:19 The Journey to Nigeria: Planning and Concerns
08:49 Understanding the Criminal Network
11:13 Experiencing Yahoo Plus Rituals
13:37 Confronting Scammers: Insights from the Ground
15:54 The Complexity of Scamming: Perspectives from Yahoo Boys
23:01 The Mechanics of Sextortion Scams
25:28 The Emotional Impact of Blackmail
31:31 Exploring New Scam Formats
39:23 Confronting Victims and Their Stories
45:21 The Investigation Journey
52:24 Confronting the Scammer
55:24 Insights from the Yahoo Boys
Subscribe to Stolen for straight truth, survivor-centered storytelling, and bold conversations about the scamdemic and the people fighting back. Find Stolen on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and other major podcast platforms.
Stolen Podcast Sponsors
BioCatch prevents financial crime by recognizing patterns in human behavior, continuously collecting 3,000 anonymized data points – keystroke and mouse activity, touch screen behavior, physical device attributes, and more – as people interact with their digital banking platforms. With these inputs, BioCatch's models reveal patterns that distinguish the criminal from the legitimate.
Scamnetic is a leader in AI-powered scam detection and prevention, protecting individuals, businesses, and financial institutions from digital scams. With solutions like KnowScam, IDeveryone, and PayVerify, Scamnetic delivers real-time scam insights, identity verification, and intervention. Restoring trust, reducing losses, and empowering organizations to safeguard customers in an increasingly complex digital world.
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