Heartbreaking Deaths Reported as Predators Destroying Teens Through Online Sextortion Scams

Cybercrime affecting teenagers is moving beyond bullying in a major way. Over the past two years authorities have investigated thousands of reports linked to online sextortion of minors. Senator Marsha Blackburn is working alongside parents and bipartisan members of Congress on a law she believes could help save the lives of young people before they become victims. 

In the push to pass the “Kids Online Safety Act”, dozens of parents are sharing heartbreaking stories of losing their children to online dangers. They include John DeMay, whose son took his own life after being targeted on Instagram.

“He was kind of a popular, handsome, well-respected. He had a very diverse group of friends,” he recalls.

John describes his 17-year-old son Jordan as a fun-loving, all-American teenager. John cherished every moment they spent together.

“He and I hunted and fished together. We enjoyed spending time on our boat. We liked to travel,” he said. “He was such a good kid. He was easy to raise.”

Just months away from graduation, the honor-roll student, homecoming king and all-conference basketball player had a bright future ahead. That is, until the morning of, March 25th, 2022, when tragedy struck without warning.

“I looked out the window and his car was still in the driveway,” John said. “So I thought that was really odd because he should have been at school on 15, 20 minutes already, and so I went down to his bedroom and I open up his door, and I found that he had shot himself in his bedroom.”

Earlier that morning at 3:45 am, as John and his wife slept in the room above, Jordan received an Instagram message from what appeared to be an attractive woman named “Dani Roberts.” Law enforcement records show Jordan began to follow the page, and after messaging back and forth, he was persuaded to send an intimate photo. Within moments, he’d fallen victim to a dangerous extortion scheme.

“It was a high-pressure extortion. They wanted him to pay $1,000, or they’re going to send it to all of his friends and family and ruin his life. They were building screenshots and making it look like they were sending it to his teammates, mothers, and friends. So in his mind, real time, he believed that they were sent in and out because he wasn’t getting the money fast enough.”

Less than six hours after the Instagram conversation began, Jordan killed himself. Authorities later charged two Nigerian brothers as part of the investigation. Jordan’s case became the first successful prosecution of Nigerians for what’s now known as “Sextortion.” According to the FBI, this is the fastest-growing cybercrime in the country. 

“There seems to be this underlying assumption that a lot of parents have that my kid is too smart. They’re never going to fall for something like that, or, oh, I’m a good parent,” says Melissa Henson of Parents Television and Media Council.

Henson says while parents are often blindsided by these scams, there are preventative steps they can take.

“First of all, you need to establish with your children, and from a very, very young age, they are not allowed to have any communication or contact with people online that they don’t know in the real world,” said Henson. 

Next, she strongly suggests that parents work together to delay giving their child a cell phone for as long as possible, and,
“Even if you do allow a laptop or an iPad or a smartphone in your home, do not allow them to be alone in a bedroom or a bathroom with any internet-connected devices,” Henson said.

That means only allowing use of these devices in public areas of the house. “That way, you can hear over their shoulder periodically, see who they’re talking to, say, ‘Hey, that’s a name I don’t recognize.'”

Last October, Instagram launched its own campaign to help teens and parents spot sextortion scams. The platform added a “take it down” tool, which prevents a teen’s sensitive images from being shared online and a crisis text line for teens to chat with a live agent. 

“We see it every day. Children that are cyberbullied, children that are pulled into sextortion,” said Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn. She told CBN News so many common cases nationwide make safety a top priority. 

“In the physical world, there are laws that prevent you from selling alcohol, tobacco, having kids enter into contracts, pushing them into pornography. There are laws against that. But in the virtual space, there is nothing,” said Blackburn.

That’s why she reached across the political aisle to get something done.

“The Kids Online Safety Act, which Senator Blumenthal and I have worked on for the last few years. And that puts the responsibility on these social media platforms. And anyone that says, oh, this is an infringement of free speech. No, it’s not an infringement of free speech. To have a law that says a child can’t drive before they’re 16, a child cannot be sold alcohol or tobacco. A child cannot be, exposed to pornography. Those are protections for children,” said Blackburn.

While seeing his son’s extortionists go to jail as a victory, it can never fill the void in John’s heart. Instead, a profound passion has ignited inside him. John now makes it his full-time mission to travel across the country, sharing Jordan’s story. 
 
“It starts with, with being present as a, as a parent, or as a family and everything. I mean, you have to really pay attention to who you are giving access, who, you know, you’re giving your kids access to the entire planet right here, and you have to be comfortable with that,” he said.

He’s joined forces with Blackburn and countless others to ensure that no one else faces the same pain.

Work will need to be done beyond the Kids Online Safety Act to tackle this problem. For example, the Communications Decency Act protects tech companies from legal liability for third-party content. They can’t be sued in cases like Jordan’s. There are calls to remove this immunity by reforming the law, which was passed in 1996 before the rise of social media.

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