Nigerian authorities have issued a string of warnings this month about sextortion, a form of online blackmail that is now being boosted by artificial intelligence. The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) raised the alarm at its October cybersecurity awareness events in Abuja, and NITDA’s computer emergency response team issued an advisory about criminals using AI to create fake explicit images. This alert is for everyone who uses social media, dating apps or messaging apps, and especially for parents, teachers and employers who look out for young people and staff.

Key takeaways

• Sextortion is blackmail: criminals threaten to release intimate images or videos unless the victim pays money, sends more images or meets other demands.
• NITDA warns that criminals can now use AI to create convincing fake explicit images, so you can be targeted even if you never shared anything.
• Paying does not make it stop. Blackmailers usually come back for more.
• Save evidence, stop responding, report the account to the platform and report the crime to the police cybercrime centre.
• Sharing someone’s intimate images without consent is an offence in Nigeria, and the police say cases involving children are treated as particularly serious.

What the authorities are saying

On 17 October 2026, at the World Cyber Security Awareness Walkathon in Abuja, AIG Akaninyene Ezima, who heads the NPF-NCCC, warned Nigerians about romance scams and sexual extortion, in which fraudsters build online relationships to obtain intimate photos and later threaten to publish them. He also flagged investment fraud that shows victims fake profit dashboards before blocking withdrawals, and noted that some Nigerians have lost hundreds of millions of naira, with others losing billions, to such schemes.

Days earlier, the Inspector-General of Police used the centre’s 2026 awareness campaign to list common online offences, including sharing someone’s nude or private photos or videos without consent. He urged victims of sextortion, fraud and cyberbullying to come forward and report.

In early October, NITDA’s CERRT advisory warned of rising sextortion threats and the growing use of AI-generated explicit images. It stressed that children, teenagers and adults can all be targeted.

How the scam works, step by step

1. First contact

According to NITDA, the approach often starts on social media, messaging apps, dating platforms or even online games. The account may look like an attractive stranger, a fellow student or a new business contact. NITDA notes that it may be impossible to verify who is really behind such an account.

2. Building trust

The criminal invests time in friendly or romantic chat. Police say fraudsters use these online relationships to gain trust, with the aim of getting the victim to share private photos or videos.

3. The trap closes

Once they have images, or have created fake ones with AI, the tone changes. The victim is threatened that the material will be published or sent to people they know unless they pay or comply.

4. Escalating demands

The first payment is rarely the last. NITDA warns that complying does not guarantee the threats stop, and blackmailers may keep asking for more money or more images.

The AI twist: fakes made from ordinary photos

The newest danger is that a criminal no longer needs a real intimate image. NITDA’s advisory explains that AI tools can be used to create convincing fake explicit images. In practice that means a normal profile picture, graduation photo or work headshot could be misused. Victims may feel they have no defence because “it looks real”. Remember: the shame belongs to the criminal, not to you, and a fake image is still evidence of a crime.

Warning signs

• A new online contact who moves very quickly to flirting or romantic talk.
• Pressure to switch from a public platform to a private messaging app or video call.
• Requests for photos, or attempts to steer a video call towards undressing.
• A profile with few real connections, recently created, or using photos that look too polished.
• Sudden threats, a countdown or a list of your contacts appearing in a message.
• Any demand for money or more images in exchange for “deleting” content.

How to protect yourself and your family

• Do not send intimate images or videos online, even to people you know or trust. This is NITDA’s first recommendation.
• Lock down your profiles. Police urge caution about sharing personal information and photos online, so limit who can see your friends list, photos and workplace.
• Be careful with strangers on dating apps, social media and gaming platforms, and treat unverified accounts with caution.
• Talk to children and teenagers. NITDA notes that young victims often stay silent out of fear or shame. Make it clear they can come to you without being punished.
• Employers: include sextortion in staff security awareness sessions, so employees know it is safe to ask for help if they are targeted.

What to do if you are a victim

1. Do not pay and do not send more images. Paying rarely ends the threats.
2. Save evidence before blocking. Take screenshots of messages, usernames, profile details, phone numbers, payment requests and account details. Do not delete the chat.
3. Stop all contact once you recognise the threat.
4. Report the account and the content to the platform where it happened.
5. Use StopNCII.org. This free service creates a digital fingerprint of an image on your own device, without uploading it, so that participating platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat can block it from being posted.
6. Report to the police. The NPF-NCCC accepts reports through its e-reporting portal at nccc.npf.gov.ng/ereport and by email at nationalcybercrimecenter@nccc.npf.gov.ng.
7. Get support. NAPTIP’s cybersecurity response team handles online exploitation, and organisations such as WARIF, the Mirabel Centre and, for minors, the Cece Yara Foundation offer counselling and legal support. If you have already paid money, you can also report to the EFCC.

What you should do

Share this alert with family members, students and staff, and agree a simple rule at home and at work: if anyone is ever threatened with intimate images, real or fake, they should tell someone they trust, keep the evidence and report it, without paying a single naira. Sextortion depends on fear and silence; speaking up early takes away the criminal’s power.

Sources

• Nairametrics: NITDA warns Nigerians over rising sextortion threats
• Gazette: Police warn Nigerians against online scams
• Vanguard: IGP warns Nigerians against seven online offences
• Zikoko: What to do if someone threatens to leak your nudes in Nigeria

As Nigeria moves towards its 2027 general elections, the question of how artificial intelligence could be used to mislead voters has moved from conference talk to concrete commitments. At the AI and Democracy Forum in Abuja on 14 October 2026, a two-day event convened by Yiaga Africa with INEC, technology companies and civil society groups, Microsoft’s senior director for global elections said the company would load the Independent National Electoral Commission’s final candidate list into its systems so that its generative AI tools cannot be used to create unrealistic images of those candidates.

This is a useful step, but it is important to understand its limits. This explainer sets out what is actually being promised, why it matters, and what ordinary users and businesses can do to avoid being fooled or used to spread fakes.

What Microsoft has committed to

According to Premium Times, Microsoft offered the measure to INEC after the commission finalised its candidate list. Once the list is in Microsoft’s systems, requests to its generative AI tools to produce misleading images of listed candidates should be refused.

The company linked the step to the 2024 Tech Accord to Combat Deceptive Use of AI in Elections, an industry agreement under which signatories, including Microsoft and Google, committed to removing content that uses the likeness of a candidate or election official without permission.

The Microsoft executive also struck a cautious note about the scale of the threat, suggesting that deepfakes may influence elections less than some fear, and citing US research which suggests that voters may trust candidates less when those candidates share AI-generated synthetic media. He urged candidates not to circulate deceptive content.

What this does not cover

A block inside one company’s tools is not a block on the whole internet. In practical terms:

• It applies to the tools of the company making the commitment. Other image generators, including open-source models that people run on their own computers, are not bound by it.
• It focuses on images of listed candidates. Fake audio, edited video, invented quotes, doctored result sheets and fake screenshots of news websites are separate problems.
• Older tricks still work. A real photo with a false caption, or a genuine video from a different year presented as new, needs no AI at all and is often more convincing.

So the sensible approach is to welcome the safeguard while continuing to check what you see and share.

INEC’s own use of AI

INEC is also adopting AI, but in a deliberately controlled way. At the forum, INEC Chairman Joash Amupitan said the commission had set up an AI unit to strengthen its digital infrastructure, including results management, and noted that AI-based security tools can help detect attacks such as denial-of-service and password brute-forcing. Speaking at an international conference in Ottawa in September, he said AI must remain under human control and act as a support tool rather than a replacement for human decisions, and described a results process that compares digitised result sheets with BVAS records and flags discrepancies for officials rather than changing results.

Civil society groups at the Abuja forum stressed that any AI used in elections must be accurate, transparent and auditable, and that rebuilding public trust is a major challenge ahead of 2027.

How to check a suspicious image, video or audio clip

You do not need specialist software to catch most fakes. Work through these checks before you react or forward anything:

1. Pause. Content designed to make you angry, frightened or excited is designed to be shared quickly. A short delay is your best defence.
2. Check the source. Who first posted it? Is it a verified account of a known news organisation, party or official body, or an anonymous page created recently?
3. Look for the same story elsewhere. If something major happened, several reputable outlets will report it. If only one page has it, be sceptical.
4. Run a reverse image search. Tools such as Google Lens or TinEye can show whether a picture appeared earlier in a different context.
5. Look closely at details. AI images can still show odd hands, jumbled text on posters, mismatched lighting or strange backgrounds, although these flaws are becoming less common, so their absence proves nothing.
6. Listen carefully to audio. Flat emotion, unusual pauses or a voice that does not match the setting are warning signs. When in doubt, look for the original recording.
7. Check fact-checkers. Nigerian and African fact-checking organisations regularly publish verdicts on viral claims.

What businesses and communicators should do

• Set a rule for staff: no forwarding of unverified political content from company accounts or official WhatsApp groups.
• Protect your own brand: criminals also use AI to fake voices and images of business leaders for fraud. Agree a call-back procedure for any unusual payment request, even one that seems to come from the boss.
• Label your own AI content: if you use AI to create marketing images, say so. Being transparent builds trust at a time when audiences are becoming more suspicious.
• Report fakes: use platform reporting tools when you see manipulated content about candidates or officials, since tech accord signatories have committed to removing it.

AI will be part of the 2027 election season, for better and for worse. Company safeguards help, but careful, sceptical users remain the most effective filter.

Sources

• Premium Times: Microsoft to restrict AI-generated images of candidates ahead of 2027 election
• The Nigeria Lawyer: Responsible AI begins with institutional readiness, INEC Chairman says

Featured image: Photo: “Kenilworth Street, Leamington Spa – QR Code” by ell brown, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse — source