Teen son been a victim of a scam

I hope the police are helpful. I’ve been in tears reading the reports of teenage boys killings themselves within hours of getting the blackmail messages. It is heartbreaking. Glad your son came to you and is now safe.

How awful for your son and you. I wouldn’t expect him to be any trouble, he is just a child. It’s a horrible thing but he will need to put it down to experience and learn from it. I also don’t think the photos will come to light but I suppose it is something you need to be prepared for. I think the police will advise on the practicality’s but I would delete everything in terms of email addresses and social media accounts and a new phone number.

Generally photos don't get leaked -- too much effort for no reward for the scammers. Best advice is to block as much as you can, and move on. And don't engage with them at all.

This. A couple of parents are suing Meta over their teenage boys killing themselves. Your son is in no trouble. Really hope you’re all ok but do go to the police.

He has made a mistake, he is not the first and he wont be the last young lad to be caught out by these evil scumbags. You are doing the right thing by contacting the police, try and sit tight until your meeting with them. Keep reassuring him that everything will be ok, in a few weeks it will be in the past and will be a valuable lesson to learn from. The police will give advice and help you navigate this.

Contact CEOP. He is the victim and underage, he will not be in trouble. They can deal with international cases.
Reporting to CEOP https://share.google/oqUU3k2I7iGowgqaX

I think a good thing is not to ever use your actual email for social media, then if you need to burn it to the ground you don't lose your email address. I have at least 5 google accounts only one of which is my main one. They all have different email addresses none of which reflect my actual name.

Praise him for coming to you, tell him you will always have his back no matter how badly he fucks up. 50% of the population has a penis and photos of his won't be anything unlike the millions of other penis images out there. He is understandably scared and the likelihood is they won't release the photos.

Due to his age anyone having the photos is breaking the law so remind him of that. That would mean anyone commenting they had seen the photo could be told by your son they will be contacting the police, it will soon shut them up.

He is a victim of grooming. Even as adults we fuck up, children need to know they can turn to you for help.

I volunteer for Childline.
On their website they have a section called Report Remove to remove images from the Web.
Here is the link
https://www.childline.org.uk/info-advice/bullying-abuse-safety/online-mobile-safety/report-remove/?gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20597026949&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvOjKBhC9ARIsAFvz5li6DD2-i2dZ-7kgJYatoGaUGsSC23talpShrnRQIY0hqnMcoem7NRgaAnK-EALw_wcB

What an awful situation for you and your DS, and a hard way to learn an important lesson. On the off chance his photos do appear online the Internet Watch Foundation can track and remove them. They refer to images of sexual abuse, which includes intimate images of children. While your DS shared the images, he was effectively groomed into doing so, so do recognise he’s been abused and offer him support. Of course he needs to understand the part he played but he is also a victim.

Internet Watch Foundation

Honestly I'd be furious with him but this isn't the time for I told you so. Continue to support him as it seems you are already doing, a horrible lesson was learned.

Poor kid. Boys at this age are incredibly vulnerable, I think society often lacks empathy for them. They are just big overgrown silly kids with adult hormones and it's a difficult time. I really hope he bounces back from this, I'm sure he will with your support.

As others have said, you need to start warming him to the idea that it’s not the end of the world if these pictures do get shared. So what, everyone has a naked body, the vast majority of people have pleasured that naked body. The only person in the wrong is the person sharing the photos. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about in the photos, the embarrassing part is trusting the wrong person.

And that’s probably why he lied to you too. He doesn’t want his mum to know of his sexual exploits, but even more so when he’s done something you explicitly told him not to - he’s ashamed he broke your trust and that’s why he didn’t want to tell you.

Your poor son. He’s not going to get into any trouble over this. Please reassure him. I would treat him with love and gentle care over this and not be too heavy on him. He will have learnt his lesson in an incredibly hard way and his well-being is the most important thing now. I agree they won’t release the photos. Make sure he is well supported. Much love to him. I know at 14 it feels like it is but it’s really not.

He will not be in any trouble. He is a 14 year old boy who made a mistake. And it's really positive that he told you. Meet the police, take the safeguarding advice, support your son and you will move on from this. I would make any accounts private or delete them. It is highly unlikely any images will be shared. He is 14 so this would be a criminal act. Not worth the risk when they can just move on to another victim. This is bad but I don't think it says anything about your son. I think most 14 year old boys could be vulnerable to this.

This happened to my son too and he was under 16. He was in such a panic that he thankfully told us and we called the police. They logged it and did seem to take it seriously because of his age. DS told the scammer that he had told his parents and the police and as he was under age they were taking it further.
Anyway he heard nothing else from the scammer so presumed they just moved on to the next victim. An awful life lesson for him. Hope your son is ok x

I very much doubt they will publish the photos. More trouble than its worth.

Your son will - unfortunately - be one of many, and secrecy and shame are the scammers tools of trade so they don't want publicity.

They will focus on easier pickings, the most money for the least effort.

I’m sorry this is horrid. Just praise him for confiding in you, reassure him he’s not in trouble. Tell him due to being a minor it’s unlikely they will release the photos - maybe ask him if he has any friends who had their photos released as evidence it’s unlikely to happen to him. It likely other kids have fallen for scam it’s just not known about

Well done for contacting the police, however I don’t think you will be able to keep your son out of it (nor do I think you should).

Hopefully the police will be able to offer some reassurance regarding likely outcomes and help with online safety going forward.

It’s a hard lesson but the good thing is you now are aware of it and can take action.

I have a teen DS and this terrifies me, like you we have regular chats about this kind of thing and can only hope that he would never do anything like this. Short of removing online access and devices we can only hope they take on board the warnings.

Hope you’re all ok - he is obviously mortified but ultimately will be glad I’m sure that you are helping him through this.

Good luck

If you’re concerned about them (or others they sell his details to) contacting him, you can ring his network provider and ask them to change his mobile number (without having to swap the SIM).

I had to do this for elderly (and unfortunately confused / vulnerable) MIL after she got on a scam target list of some sort. They were calling her from different numbers multiple times a day and blocking each incoming number was hopeless.

Please tell your son nobody is perfect. My very conscientious and bright sister in law almost lost her entire savings due to a scam. Tell him how proud you are that he did eventually confide in you (this is huge) It will feel crap now but eventually it will be ok again. His mental health may be very fragile after this, we all make mistakes and the import thing is we learn and grow and don't let them define us.

Just call the scammers bluff. Tell them you have contacted the police, and remind them that distributing child pornography is an extremely serious crime.

If he has blocked them and not paid anything, it's likely they won't 'waste' any more of their valuable scamming time on him - they'll move on to find more victims.

It's great that your son felt able to tell you what had happened after overcoming his understandable embarrassment, and you've done all the right things in blocking his profiles and contacting the police.

Your poor son. Unfortunately, he is at an age when it doesn’t matter how much he’s heard or learnt at school on protecting his privacy, he has let the thought of some girl get the better of him.

We have no idea whether the photos will be leaked, but even I’m sure it’s pretty unlikely.

The scammers don’t actually want to do any work for themselves, they are just after a quick buck.

After speaking to the police, you can only reassure your son and praise him for his honesty - even if it wasn’t immediate or volunteered.

Horrible experience for him. But a very salutary one. He knows from a young age how wrong it can go sending intimate photos and is unlikely to do it again.