Three years after a California teenager died by suicide, four men in West Africa have been arrested on suspicion of participating in what investigators are calling an “international sextortion scheme” that targeted people in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Federal prosecutors say the 17-year-old had corresponded online with someone he believed to be a young woman who sent him explicit photos. The teen reciprocated with similar photos of himself and was immediately hit with a blackmail demand. Terrified the photos would be exposed, the boy killed himself. In April, the blackmailer was arrested in Cote d’Ivoire. Three other men in the African nation were arrested on money laundering charges.
