Arizona 13-year-old boy among recent victims of teen sextortion

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) — A Valley mother, who needs to cover her id, is warning dad and mom of the most recent sextortion rip-off on social media. She stated her 13-year-old son was a latest sufferer. “He was shaking and had tears in his eyes; he was petrified,” stated the sufferer’s mom. “He wholeheartedly believed if he had entry to cash, he would have paid this particular person off as a result of he simply needed to make it go away.”

A number of weeks in the past, the teenager acquired a random Snapchat message from somebody named Bella. Based on the teenager’s mom, Bella appeared pleasant and requested to change into pals on Instagram. Bella then prompt they trade footage of their personal elements.

The teenager obtained an image of a topless lady, then despatched an image of his personal. Moments later, Bella threatened to share the pictures with all his Instagram followers and pals, together with his mom, until he paid $300. “This particular person stated I’m going to ship them to all of your followers now,” the sufferer’s mom stated. “He stated I don’t have any cash to pay you and so they stated you higher determine it out.”

Cyber security skilled Katey McPherson says what occurred with the Valley teen isn’t unusual, with the variety of sextortion instances on the rise, based on the FBI.

Two months in the past, a teen in Mississippi dedicated suicide after being threatened by a sextortion scammer. “This particular rip-off is concentrating on teenage boys, particularly between 13-18 years previous,” stated McPherson. “It looks like they’re figuring out college students which are actively concerned in golf equipment and athletics that they might care about their reputations.”

Finally, the seventh grader instructed his mother concerning the rip-off, and so they canceled his social media accounts, however not all teenagers really feel snug talking up.

McPherson stated the bottom line is to have an ongoing dialogue together with your youngsters about dealing with social media conditions. “I had this dialog with my son a month in the past, and look what occurred,” stated the sufferer’s mom.

McPherson stated there are a variety of issues youngsters must know to keep away from changing into a sufferer of sextortion.

• By no means buddy or reply to somebody you don’t know
• By no means take or ship footage of your personal elements
• If somebody asks you to change social media platforms to talk, it’s often a rip-off
• Report any on-line threats to police
• Report it to the CyberTipline at www.cybertipline.org

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