A dad was left feeling “sick and angry” after making a horrifying discovery on his son’s phone — as it points to a growing problem in Australia.
Matty Acton, from Brisbane radio show Stav, Abby & Matt, recently revealed that his 23-year-old son, Ethan, had almost fallen victim to a sextortion scam when he was just 14.
Sextortion is a form of blackmail where someone threatens to release a sexual image or video of the victim unless they give in to their demands.
More than one in 10 adolescents in Australia are victims of the growing crime, according to the eSafety Commission and the Australian Institute of Criminology.
The effects can be life-threatening, with 15-year-old American student, Bryce Tate, tragically dying by suicide just three hours after a strange number demanded $750 to not send explicit images of him last year.
Speaking to news.com.au, Acton said, like any teenager, his son was always glued to his phone.
“We had a very clear agreement with him that as long as he was given access to things like social media and the internet via his phone, we would be able to check his messages and what he was up to at any time,” the radio star said.
“One day, while checking, we noticed he was speaking to a young girl whom we had never met or heard him talk about.
“She wasn’t someone from his friend circle or a sibling of any friends that we knew of.”
The messages started off friendly, like two people getting to know each other, before becoming very flirty.
Eventually the girl began asking for photos of him.
“They started out very innocently, as if they were gaining his trust before becoming flirtatious,” Acton explained.
“When they graduated to asking for sexual or nude photos, the scariest part was that they specifically asked him to include his face.
“They gave step-by-step instructions on exactly what they wanted.”
Acton said he later learned what sextortion was, and believed that his son was the victim of an attempted blackmail scheme.
“I felt sick and angry. I knew straight away that the photo on the profile he was talking to was not really the person,” he said.
“These grubs prey on young people who operate on impulse and they can completely destroy their lives.”
Meanwhile his son was left feeling “a little shocked and embarrassed”.
“He didn’t send any photos because we had many conversations with him about that in the past, so he knew not to,” Acton said.
“I think the realisation that he’d been tricked was what really got to him the most.”
Acton and his wife, Esther, took Ethan’s phone away, giving him an old Nokia-style phone that could only text and make calls. Acton says looking back he isn’t sure if that was the right move.
“The rule was that he wasn’t allowed to add or befriend anyone online that he didn’t know,” Acton said.
“He did make a mistake, but there was also a predator at work who knew exactly what they were doing and was taking advantage of a young boy.
“After some time, we set new rules and gave the iPhone back. We continued checking his phone and put more safety measures in place.”
Acton said he’d previously had conversations with his son surrounding explicit images but it was often in the context of not asking girls for photos or what to do if his friend sent him one of another girl.
“At the time, we hadn’t thought too much about people online asking him for photos,” Acton said.
“We had spent more time discussing not adding people online or meeting up with people he didn’t know.”
Acton, 38, said he thinks parents are more aware of the dangers of social media than ever before, but it’s so important to keep track of who kids are speaking with online.
“It does beg the question of whether teenagers are entitled to privacy in this area,” he said.
“After what we saw, I say no. If a teenager needs privacy on their phone, it’s likely they’re hiding something.”
Acton has since issued a warning to other parents, sharing the “catfish” story on the Two Doting Dads podcast, hosted by Matty J and Ash Wicks.
Other parents have flooded a clip of the interview with their own experiences of it happening, labelling it “scary.”
“Happened to my 15-year-old son, very scary, police couldn’t do much either,” shared one mum.
“Many young people have died by suicide because of this scam,” warned another.
As others said, it happened to older family members too.
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