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’ circumstances.

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

"Any person reached out to him pretending to be a girl, and they began a conversation," his mother, Pauline Stuart, advised CNN, preventing back tears as she described what occurred to her son days after she and Ryan had completed visiting a number of faculties he was contemplating attending after graduating high school.

The web conversation quickly grew intimate, after which turned prison.

The scammer -- posing as a young lady -- despatched Ryan a nude photograph after which asked Ryan to share an express picture of himself in return. Instantly after Ryan shared an intimate photograph of his personal, the cybercriminal demanded $5,000, threatening to make the photograph public and ship it to Ryan's household and associates.

The San Jose, California, teen instructed the cybercriminal he couldn't pay the full quantity, and the demand was in the end lowered to a fraction of the original determine -- $150. However after paying the scammers from his school savings, Stuart said, "They kept demanding increasingly and putting a number of continued strain on him."

At the time, Stuart knew none of what her son was experiencing. She realized the main points after legislation enforcement investigators reconstructed the events main up to his loss of life.

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

"He really, actually thought in that time that there wasn't a option to get by if these photos had been actually posted online," Pauline mentioned. "His notice showed he was completely terrified. No baby ought to must be that scared."

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

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

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

"To be a felony that particularly targets kids -- it is one of many more deeper violations of belief I think in society," says FBI Supervisory Particular Agent Dan Costin, who leads a team of investigators working to counter crimes against kids.

In line with Costin, many 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 law enforcement counterparts all over the world, Costin said, to help identify and arrest perpetrators who are focusing on youngsters on-line.

One challenge for the FBI: many victims of sextortion do not report the incidents to law enforcement.

"The embarrassment piece of that is most likely one of many greater hurdles that the victims have to overcome," said Costin. "It may be quite a bit, especially in that moment."

But investigators urge victims to quickly contact legislation enforcement, either online or at their local FBI subject workplace.

Medical consultants say there is a key reason why young males are particularly vulnerable to sextortion-related scams.

"Teen brains are nonetheless developing," stated Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent medication at Mass General in Boston. "So when something catastrophic occurs, like a personal picture is released to individuals online, it is onerous for them to look past that moment and perceive that in the massive scheme of things they'll be capable to get by this."

Hadland stated there are steps parents can take to assist safeguard their youngsters from on-line harm.

"The most important factor that a dad or mum should do with their teen is attempt to understand what they're doing on-line," she said. "You need to know once they're going online, who they're interacting with, what platforms they're utilizing. Are they being approached by people who they don't know, are they experiencing strain to share info or photographs?"

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

"You wish to make it clear that they'll discuss to you if they've completed one thing, or they really feel like they've made a mistake," he said.

Ryan's mom agrees.

"You should discuss to your children because we need to make them aware of it," Stuart said.

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

"How might these individuals look at themselves within the mirror knowing that $150 is extra vital than a toddler's life?" she says. "There isn't any other word but 'evil' for me that they care much more about money than a baby's life. I do not need anybody else to undergo what we did."