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March 8, 2026 — 5:00pm
Parents and authorities struggling to protect young Australians from the predatory aspects of social media can take heart from a global investigation involving state and federal police that put two Nigerian “sextortionists” in jail after their scam resulted in the suicide of a NSW teenager.
His death is an unspoken fear of many parents who worry about their children’s vulnerability to social media and the darker corners of the internet.
The boy took his own life in 2023, just hours after the Nigerians demanded $500 in online gift cards, threatening to distribute his naked photos to family and school friends. He had been contacted by a so-called girl who encouraged him to reciprocate sexualised photos. She sent a racy photo. He dispatched one back and the scammers swooped.
On Wednesday, a Nigerian court sentenced the pair, aged 25 and 29, to more than 40 years’ jail. In investigating the boy’s death and preparing evidence for the coroner, NSW Police found the messages that caused his suicide. They established Strike Force Prescribe, and, with the Australian Federal Police and international enforcement agencies, traced the plotters to Nigeria.
The AFP issued a warning in 2024 over the rise of “sadistic” sextortion online, by which children as young as 12 were coerced into creating self-produced explicit material to gain acceptance into extreme online communities. The eSafety Commissioner’s office also noted there had been an “alarming” surge in sextortion cases. Reports soared from 432 in 2018-19 to 6187 in 2022-23, a 1332 per cent increase.
The jailing of the Nigerian scammers is the first time Australian authorities have played a role in convicting sextortion scammers abroad.
It happened as another move to protect young Australians came into effect.
From Monday, adult sites and a range of other services including AI companion chatbots and app stores, will be required to implement age verification for users attempting to access pornography, extremely violent material or self-harm content.
The Australian online safety regulator has warned platforms that are not in compliance with the codes could face fines of up to $49.5 million per breach. As the deadline neared, number of adult websites reportedly began blocking users in Australia.
The reforms requiring age verification for access to adult sites also follows the Albanese government’s decision in December to restrict social media access for children and teens aimed at reducing the pressures and risks that young users may face on social media, which include cyberbullying, addiction, mental health issues, exposure to predators, and, as the Sun Herald reported, eating disorders.
Australia was the first country to implement such measures, and although there has been pushback from countries and corporations with some nominating privacy concerns, it has set such an innovative precedent that nations including Britain, Spain, France, Slovenia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Greece, Germany, Ireland and Denmark are considering their own legislation.
Adoption of rapidly evolving technology and the take-up of social media has occurred with few realising the risks involved, and now we are playing catch-up.
The age requirement reforms and successful pursuit of the Nigerian scammers are small but welcome steps toward protecting our children.
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