The mother of a 14-year-old who died by suicide claims he was the victim of a “sextortion” scam that took place online.
Any parent will tell you of the many concerns they harbor when it comes to their children finding their feet in the wild west that is the internet. Most want to at least be aware of what sites their little ones are visiting, what apps they’ve downloaded, what social media platforms they have accounts for. Some go further than that, monitoring their child’s online activity with a view to shielding them from potential pitfalls.
Even so, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to be in all places at once. Children and young teens can be susceptible to dangerous viral trends, not to mention fraudsters and scam artists.
The mother of Caleb Morgan knows this only too well.
On June 10, Caleb, of El Dorado, Kansas, started up a conversation with what he believed to be a “14-year-old girl” on TikTok, with the chat then moving to Snapchat.
As per the Daily Mail, Caleb’s mother, Morgan, alleges the other person sent compromising images of ‘herself’ to Caleb, who then sent pictures of himself in return.
Things then took a turn for the ominous, with the “girl” in question demanding that Caleb send large amounts of cash in exchange for not leaking his photos. According to Morgan, the stranger “made him feel like his life was over as he had made this mistake”.
Caleb took his own life by shooting himself with a gun at his family home.
The teenager’s father called his mother to deliver the heartbreaking news.
“When I got there Caleb was still alive and breathing but they were unable to resuscitate him so they stopped trying as nothing was working,” Morgan recalled.
“He passed away in the house and it was very difficult because I wanted to be with him but they wouldn’t let me go inside as they didn’t want me to see anything.
“I was hysterical and screaming and begging them to not give up on my boy and let me go to him. I was inconsolable.”
The motive behind Caleb dying by suicide was initially a mystery for his grieving parents, until the El Dorado Police Department went through his phone and discovered the conversations.
Morgan revealed: “That is when they had gone through his TikTok messages and showed me the progression. It had stolen my boy’s happiness and hope in a 35-minute span.”
Caleb, his mother said, had even “sent a photo of the gun” in a desperate bid to put an end to the extortion.
As per the FBI website, a “sextortion” scam involves the blackmailing of a victim with sexually explicit images in order to receive money.
“In some cases, the first contact from the criminal will be a threat. The person may claim to already have a revealing picture or video of a child that will be shared if the victim does not send more pictures,” according to information on the site.