Reply to Article in Post- online abuse and extortion

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m not sure I can bear to read the article - I saw it in the Post this morning and kept scrolling. Two years ago, when my son was 15 he fell for the sextortion scheme where scammers pretend to be a friend of a friend on Instagram and Snap, pretend they like the boy, and start sending nudes then ask for them in return and then extort them for gift cards. I wrote about it here as a PSA at the time (original thread deleted for unknown reasons, there is a second one when a Post article came about on the specific scam targeting teen boys).

We did all the things, and my kid is a happy, well adjust young man. He still fell for it, because 15 year old boys can be hormonal boneheads with boundless optimism (she likes me!) For those of you rightly worried about your kids, what I found was the most important thing was that my kid knew that he could come to me and I’d help him. I wouldn’t be horrified, blame him, think he was stupid. He was so, so, so ashamed. It was a huge hurdle to tell me, but he did. He begged me not to tell his dad because they have a different kind of relationship. I think of the kids who, in the same situation as my son, kill themselves because they see no way out. There but for the grace of god (or maybe dumb luck) go I.

Tell your kids they can come to you no matter what - when they’ve crashed the car, or drunk too much, or said something terrible, or sent a nude to a scammer. You will help them first, and learn from it later. Unconditional love first.[/quote]

Thank you for sharing your story and I hope your son is now doing ok. I hope I have that relationship with my kids. [/quote]

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