Police call about my teenage son being targeted in an online scam

[Beelady1]

Hi all,
we had a call from a police officer today, firstly to let me know my 15 almost 16 year old son is not in trouble. However my son back in June reported someone on tictoc after being manipulated into sending a dick pic-which he did.
this caught me completely off guard, my son is somewhat immature with sex/relationships, doesn’t have a gf, hasn’t appeared interested and a late starter to puberty withing the last 8-10 months.

the officer spoke to me first and explained what had happened. He said my son reported this person back in June. They basically pretended to be someone else, went on and on, in the end he sent a pic, as soon as they happened they demanded money or threatened to share the image-my son then reported and blocked. He didn’t breath a word of this to us and has seemed ok in himself.
the officer told us the address shows the perpetrator in in Bangledesh and the picture can not be shared now. He was very reassuring and went over internet safety and checked if he had a gf/bf and the law around sending pics.
my son was understandingly very embarrassed but said he was ok, understood and says it’s only happened once and he now blocks anyone he doesn’t know.
I as a mother feel absolutely mortified, sick to my stomach and so so naive and guilty this has happened to him and that I really just didn’t think this would happen to him. He’s a smart kid, on track for mainly 7/8s, we have spoken about internet safety, but if I’m honest not as much of late, if I’m honest, naively I thought he was a little older and a little more street wise to scams.
not really sure what I want from this post. But please talk to your kids, I honestly did not have a clue this had happened and really didn’t think my son would be a victim of these.

He is a smart kid, I'd be very proud of him. Anyone can make a mistake and do something stupid in a moment of poor judgement. Adults fall victim to similar scams every day. Your kid handled it extremely well. He reported it appropriately and blocked the scammer. He chose not to tell you because of his embarrassment around making a mistake and the nature of the scam, that's understandable, but it's hard for him that he wasn't able to have your support while he was dealing with it. Maybe try to work on moving to a more equal footing relationship where he sees you as human and fallible too so he could open up about issues he finds embarrassing in the future. But mostly, he messed up and then did all the right things to resolve it. That's pretty amazing for a teen. Focus on that too

Thank you for taking the time to reply and your kind words.
we have said we are very proud of him for reporting it straight away and absolutely the right thing to do.
I just can’t help my mind go into over drive of all these horrid cases where worse case children have committed suicide from being groomed online! It’s a scary world we live in!
Wehave massively reassured him the absolute worse worse case scenario in this sort of event, is a picture would be shared, and it would be old news/blow over. But obviously had a bit more of an in depth chat for when he gets into any sort of relationship, you do not share pictures or ask for pictures full stop.
The police officer has left his email address for us, and we have told our son if he is ever harassed online or anything doesn’t feel right, we can email the police directly.
sadly the officer said it is near in impossible to trace these scammers but they have done their part to ensure the picture is not shared and of course talk to our son and check he is ok.

What a very smart son you have. Anyone can make a mistake and he dealt with it in a very adult fashion. Your response seems totally appropriate too, fully supportive to him whilst being aware of the absolute dregs of society who prey on people. You have opened the channels of communication to him should he have any difficulties in the future.
Anyone of any age can fall victim to a multitude of different scams and the shame should always be on the perpetrators.