Date of Event: 26–27 March 2025
Event: Global Anti-Scam Summit London 2025
In a harrowing solo session, Paul Raffile, Senior Intelligence Analyst and Investigator, exposed the disturbing rise of sextortion scams targeting minors and the tragic outcomes that follow. Based on in-depth research and personal engagement with victims’ families, Raffile described how financial sextortion—often carried out by organised cybercriminal networks based in Nigeria—has led to a shocking wave of suicides among teenagers worldwide.
Raffile presented case studies of teens from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia who were manipulated, blackmailed, and driven to take their own lives within hours of being contacted. He showed how these scams follow near-identical scripts, indicating mass-scale industrialised exploitation by “Yahoo boys,” who openly share techniques via social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook.
Beyond highlighting the problem, Raffile pointed to promising progress: increased public awareness, policy changes at platforms such as Meta, safety enhancements on Snapchat, and the takedown of apps like Wizz. He also advocated for more proactive intervention from governments, banks, and tech firms—including improving content moderation, restricting underage access, and disrupting the financial flows enabling these crimes.
The session was a sobering reminder of the urgency of action. As Raffile concluded, sextortion is not only the most dangerous scam—it is the most deadly.
A network is beaten by a network: Mexico's banks move from remediation to prevention
GASA convened the ABM Fraud Committee and Mexican banks to advance the enriched agreement and strengthen coordinated fraud prevention across the sector.
Una red se combate con una red: la banca mexicana avanza de la remediación a la prevención
GASA reunió al Comité de Fraudes de la ABM y a bancos mexicanos para avanzar el convenio enriquecido y fortalecer la prevención coordinada del fraude.
Appeals Centre Europe Report Points to Gaps in Social Media Scam Moderation
Appeals Centre Europe’s Transparency Report, covering April 2025 to March 2026, highlights early fraud and scam dispute findings relevant to social media moderation and scam prevention.
Protecting Seniors and Vulnerable Communities from Fraud
Experts from financial services, internet safety and policy explore how families, banks and communities can better protect vulnerable groups from fraud.
Fenasbac and GASA Report Outlines a Cross-Sector Response to Digital Scams in Brazil
Fenasbac and GASA’s Brazil Blueprint examines how finance, telecoms, technology and regulators can share intelligence to strengthen protection against digital scams.
Bitdefender Report Reveals How Scams Operate Across Digital Channels
Bitdefender’s Global Scam Intelligence Report 2026 shows how organised scam campaigns move across advertising, websites, SMS, messaging apps and voice calls to exploit trust at scale.
Beyond Compliance: Why Organisational Accountability is Critical for Consumer Protection
How the NDPC-Meta initiative could strengthen data protection, organisational accountability, scam prevention and consumer trust across Nigeria’s digital economy.
Why Mexico’s Anti-Scam Response Needs Cross-Sector Coordination
GASA Mexico Chapter's Sissi De la Pena explains why scam prevention in Mexico requires stronger coordination across finance, telecoms, platforms, government and civil society.