A 17-year-old boy died by suicide hours after being scammed. The FBI says it’s a part of a troubling increase in ‘sextortion’ cases.

Inside hours, the 17-year-old, straight-A pupil and Boy Scout had died by suicide.

"Any person reached out to him pretending to be a lady, they usually started a dialog," his mother, Pauline Stuart, instructed CNN, fighting back tears as she described what occurred to her son days after she and Ryan had finished visiting several faculties he was considering attending after graduating highschool.

The web dialog rapidly grew intimate, and then turned legal.

The scammer -- posing as a younger woman -- despatched Ryan a nude photo and then asked Ryan to share an explicit picture of himself in return. Instantly after Ryan shared an intimate photo of his own, the cybercriminal demanded $5,000, threatening to make the picture public and send it to Ryan's family and mates.

The San Jose, California, teen told the cybercriminal he could not pay the full quantity, and the demand was ultimately lowered to a fraction of the original figure -- $150. However after paying the scammers from his faculty financial savings, Stuart said, "They saved demanding more and more and putting lots of continued strain on him."

On the time, Stuart knew none of what her son was experiencing. She realized the details after legislation enforcement investigators reconstructed the occasions leading as much as his death.

She had stated goodnight to Ryan at 10 p.m., and described him as her often blissful son. By 2 a.m., he had been scammed, and brought his life. Ryan left behind a suicide note describing how embarrassed he was for himself and the household.

"He really, truly thought in that time that there wasn't a approach to get by if these photos had been really posted online," Pauline stated. "His note showed he was completely terrified. No little one ought to should be that scared."

Legislation enforcement calls the scam "sextortion," and investigators have seen an explosion in complaints from victims main the FBI to ramp up a marketing campaign to warn parents from coast to coast.

The bureau says there were over 18,000 sextortion-related complaints in 2021, with losses in extra of $13 million. The FBI says using child pornography by criminals to lure suspects also constitutes a critical crime.

The investigation into Last's case is ongoing, Stuart and the FBI inform CNN.

"To be a felony that particularly targets children -- it's one of many more deeper violations of belief I believe in society," says FBI Supervisory Particular Agent Dan Costin, who leads a crew of investigators working to counter crimes in opposition to youngsters.

Based on Costin, lots of the sextortion scams reported to the FBI are determined to be from criminals on the African continent and in Southeast Asia. Federal investigators are working with their legislation enforcement counterparts world wide, Costin said, to help establish and arrest perpetrators who are targeting kids online.

One challenge for the FBI: many victims of sextortion don't report the incidents to legislation enforcement.

"The embarrassment piece of this is probably one of the bigger hurdles that the victims have to overcome," said Costin. "It may be so much, especially in that moment."

But investigators urge victims to shortly contact law enforcement, both on-line or at their native FBI area workplace.

Medical specialists say there is a key reason why young males are especially weak to sextortion-related scams.

"Teen brains are nonetheless developing," mentioned Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent drugs at Mass General in Boston. "So when one thing catastrophic occurs, like a private image is launched to folks online, it is exhausting for them to look previous that moment and perceive that in the huge scheme of issues they will be capable of get by way of this."

Hadland said there are steps dad and mom can take to help safeguard their youngsters from on-line harm.

"Crucial thing that a father or mother should do with their teen is try to perceive what they're doing online," she stated. "You wish to know once they're going surfing, who they're interacting with, what platforms they're utilizing. Are they being approached by people who they do not know, are they experiencing stress to share info or pictures?"

Hadland said it is also vital that oldsters specifically warn teens of scams like sextortion, with out shaming them.

"You want to make it clear that they will talk to you if they have done something, or they really feel like they've made a mistake," he stated.

Ryan's mom agrees.

"It's essential speak to your children as a result of we have to make them aware of it," Stuart mentioned.

Still grieving the loss of her son, she is channeling her household's pain into motion, and honoring Ryan by talking out and telling his story. She hopes that doing so will assist save lives.

"How may these individuals look at themselves within the mirror figuring out that $150 is extra essential than a baby's life?" she says. "There is no other phrase however 'evil' for me that they care way more about money than a toddler's life. I do not want anyone else to go through what we did."