John DeMay, the father of a young athlete, Jordan DeMay, who tragically took his own life after falling victim to an international "s--tortion" group, has issued a poignant warning to parents.
His plea comes after Jordan, a 17-year-old student at Marquette Senior High School in Michigan, died by suicide on March 25, 2022, following interactions with an individual posing as a woman on Instagram, later revealed to be a Nigerian man.
According to an indictment by the Department of Justice, the alleged scammer coerced Jordan into sharing a photo and threatened to expose it to his friends and family unless he paid $1,000. This tormentor even callously taunted Jordan when he expressed suicidal thoughts, authorities disclosed.
In an interview with Fox News, John DeMay emphasized that Jordan's death was a devastating shock to their family. He urged all parents to educate themselves about the dangers of s- extortion schemes and to instill in their teens the belief that no threat is worth taking one's life for.
"Children have to understand that this is not the end of what they think their life is because it is not," DeMay stressed.
DeMay shared that when Jordan was younger, he closely monitored his son's phone usage and restricted access to social media. However, as Jordan approached adulthood, like many parents, he relaxed these restrictions.
He described Jordan as a bright student, a talented athlete, and even a homecoming king at Marquette High. "My son was intelligent. He was a good student. He was a great athlete. Someone came to his room at three in the morning and murdered him on Instagram when we were all sleeping during the night, and we had no chance to stop him," he lamented to Fox News.
Last month, Mark Totten, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, announced the indictment of three Nigerian men—Samuel Ogoshi, 22, Samson Ogoshi, 20, and Ezekiel Ejehem Robert, 19—on charges related to Jordan's death. The charges include s- exploitation of a minor, conspiracy to distribute explicit child abuse material and online harassment.
Prosecutors allege that the three men gained access to an Instagram account under the alias "Dani. Roberts" and, posing as this user, encouraged more than 100 victims to send explicit photos. On the night of Jordan's tragic passing, he sent a photo to Samuel Ogoshi, who then proceeded to extort money from him.
The alarming rise in se-- cases in recent years prompted the FBI to issue a national public safety alert in December, highlighting a tenfold increase in online s-- blackmail cases. In 2022 alone, at least 3,000 children became victims of se-- plots, linked to over a dozen suicides.
The majority of victims were teenage males, some as young as 10 years old, making it a pressing concern for parents and law enforcement agencies alike. FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized the importance of supporting victims, assuring them that there is hope and they are not alone.
In May, South Carolina legislator Brandon Guffey introduced "Gavin's Law" in response to the death of his son in a se-- plot. The proposed law imposes penalties of up to five years in prison for scammers extorting money from minors, offering a legal framework to combat this growing threat.
The tragic story of Jordan DeMay serves as a stark reminder of the urgency to protect young individuals from the perils of online extortion and to provide them with the resources and support they need to combat this insidious danger.
