They Killed My Only Son: The Young West African Footballers Scammed By Fake Agents

Cheikh Tour died after being lured abroad in one of a growing number of extortion schemes tricking talented teenagers with dreams of making it big The last time Diodo Sokhna spoke to her teenage son, he seemed subdued, his voice sapped of all the optimism he had set off with on a journey supposed to put him on the road to a career as a professional footballer. After that call Cheikh Tour went silent. His mothers WhatsApp messages to his phone received only the dreaded single tick, indicating they had not been received. Soon afterwards a man with a foreign accent rang her from a number she did not recognise. He told Sokhna her son was dead and then hung up.