Mom issues warning after her son, 14, thought he was flirting with girl online before being found dead 35 minutes later
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing
A 14-year-old boy's mother says her son took his own life after becoming a victim of a 'sextortion' scam.
On June 10, Caleb Moore, who is from El Dorado, Kansas, began talking to what he thought was a '14-year-old girl' on TikTok before the conversation moved to Snapchat.
Caleb's mother, Morgan, says that the person then allegedly sent compromising pictures of herself to Caleb, with the teen sending photographs of himself in return.
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Following this, the 'girl' then began threatening him and demanded that he give them large amounts of cash or they would leak the photos.
Morgan said that they'd 'made him feel like his life was over as he had made this mistake', and Caleb took his own life by shooting himself with a gun in his home.
Morgan says she was informed of her son's death after his father called her, adding: "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.
"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."
At first, the parents were confused as to why Caleb had shot himself, however, the El Dorado Police Department had gone through his phone and discovered the conversations.
Morgan said: “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."
She added that her son had even 'sent a photo of the gun' to stop the threats.
The FBI says that a 'sextorion' scam involves an offender blackmailing the victim with sexually explicit images in order to receive money.
El Dorado's Police Department also confirmed that they'd began chatting on TikTok before moving on to another platform, where the images were then shared.
TikTok told LADbible Group that they are committed to making their platform a safe and positive experience for teenagers and further stated that direct messaging is unavailable to users under 16.
They added that adults are unable to send message requests to teenagers and no one in the US can send off-platform imagery in their direct messages.
If someone receives a message from a new person, then they are prompted to mark the conversation as safe or report the sender. They also state that messaging on TikTok is not end-to-end encrypted, which makes their platform undesirable to anyone who wishes to share explicit images.
Snapchat also says that they have strong safety settings in place for users aged 13-17, with their accounts being automatically sent to private and communication only being allowed between them and mutually accepted friends or numbers already saved to their contacts.
They also have a Family Safety Hub to allow families to safely and confidently navigate their social media platform.
It is unknown if Caleb was using his real age on his profiles.
Morgan now wants to encourage kids to tell a trusted adult if they ever feel unsafe on the internet, as she said: "I don't know how to stress enough to children to tell someone your parents about it or another trusted adult. You just have to tell someone because they purposely make it seem like they have so much more power than they do.
"You need to battle the false communication between the scammer and your child with open conversation with you and your child."
An El Dorado Police spokesperson said: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Moore family during this difficult time. We are amazed at the incredible strength and courage that this family has shown through the tragedy that they have suffered.
"We strongly support the fact that the family has made it a priority to share this story with others in an effort to protect the lives of other children and we intend to support this family in every way possible."
A GoFundMe has been set up to help support Caleb's family and cover funeral costs, which you can donate to here.
LADbible Group has contacted Snapchat for further comment.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
If you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Topics: US News, Social Media
Gerrard Kaonga