My son was nearly a victim of sextortion: but I went Mama Bear on the gang

"They wanted $3k, or they would send the photos to everyone in his contacts list," the furious mum exclusively tells Kidspot.

My son, Callum (15) and I have a close and very open relationship. We’ve always spoken about all topics from puberty, and dating to sex, really transparently and after a recent incident, I am extremely glad that we do.

Although we are close, Callum is still a teenager and of course, doesn’t tell me everything. So, despite my warnings, and his older sister’s warnings about nude photos- both taking them and sharing them, Callum still did both of these things anyway.

After messaging someone whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, Hayley, living in a nearby town, over social media for over a month, Callum was under the impression that soon, they would be meeting in real life and probably begin officially dating.

So, when he received nude photos of Hayley on his Snapchat, he wasn’t shocked because according to him, this is "just what teenagers do now."

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"He decided to do it anyway"

After this, Hayley then asked Callum to send some of himself. Although he was a bit apprehensive because he had never done this before and he knew what both me and his sister had said to him about it, he decided to do it anyway.

Callum ended up taking three photos of himself, all where he was completely naked, and which also included his face. He sent them to Hayley, or should I say, who he thought was Hayley.

Within an hour of hitting send, Callum received a message back, saying that unless he deposited three thousand dollars into their bank account (which was provided) by the end of the week, they would share the photos with all of Callum’s contact list (they had also screenshotted the list to show Callum they knew who was on there).

As soon as he saw the message and the screenshot, he instantly regretted what he had done and he also knew he was way too far into the issue to get out of it alone, so he approached me.

Embarrassed by what he had done and knowing full well that he had made a mistake, Callum told me what had happened, apologising profusely.

Sextortion is a growing risk for tweens and teens. Image: iStock

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"Made me feel sick to my stomach"

Hearing the situation Callum was in made me feel absolutely sick to my stomach. It was hard to hear something of this nature happening to your own son, someone who despite growing up, is still your baby and who you just want to protect.

And of course, I was angry at him and disappointed that he hadn’t listened too. I mean why? And why with his face? It was just infuriating.

Despite feeling this way, my first reaction wasn’t to add to Callum’s already fractured frame of mind, it was to try and squash this extortionist because, in the end, they were the ones committing the wrongdoing.

So, I did as any mum would do, I sent a message from Callum’s account, telling them who I was and that what they were doing was considered child pornography. My son is only 15 so sharing naked images of a minor is illegal I told them, and so is extorting money. I said that if I saw that they had shared any photos, I would go to the police without hesitation.

While I had no idea, who was really at the other end, to whom Callum had sent the images, I hoped that my angry messages would be enough to scare them into just going away and that he wouldn’t have to face any lasting repercussions from what he did.

"Nothing's been shared"

Thankfully, within minutes of me sending this message, they blocked Callum and we never heard anything from them again. No images have been shared with his friends either (as far as we are aware) but of course, a stranger, a stranger with bad intentions still has them and we don’t know what they will do with them which is a worry.

Although I was upset about it all, I am glad that he felt comfortable enough to approach me straight away and to be open with me about it. I know that the strength of our relationship allowed this and although he ignored my advice about nude images, I am grateful he trusted me enough to admit his mistake.

Since then, Callum and I have had some long discussions. Ultimately, he has learnt from what happened and won't be doing anything like this again. And while we can't control what happens to the photos now, sometimes I think that the only way for anyone to learn is to make mistakes, even if they are extremely revealing.

Originally published as My son was nearly a victim of sextortion: but I went Mama Bear on the gang