Online sexual extortion, or sextortion as it is also called, is a scheme in which scammers blackmail teens and pre-teens that they connect with through social media or text messages.
Tim Nester is the vice president of communications with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE). He said that last year, there were more than thirty-thousand sextortion cases reported, but it has gotten even worse this year.
"In 2025, it only took six months to get to that number in terms of sextortion cases. Now of course, we know that not all of them end in death or death by suicide, but many of them do, and too many of them — I think one’s too many," says Nester.
The New York Post reports that at least 38 teenage boys have committed suicide in the past 4 years following sextortion schemes. One of the latest instances happened recently in West Virginia when 15-year-old Bryce Tate was having what seemed like a normal evening after school.
"He had dinner with his family, he went out to play basketball, and within three hours, he was gone. Gone forever," says Nester.
Resist the Mainstream and others report Tate was contacted by scammers pretending to be a local teenage girl. They shared detailed information about his life to gain his trust, including the name of the gym he went to and the names of some of his closest friends. They even knew his position on the high school basketball team. They also shared pictures of what appeared to be a real girl with him, possibly another victim.
These cases normally involve convincing the victim to share sensitive images of himself, and that is when the extortionists reveal who they really are.
"We've seen it time and time again where, despite the parents' best effort to protect their kids, these devices and platforms aren't doing enough to shield kids from these types of scams,” says Nester. “When we think scam, a lot of times we think ‘oh you gave away personal information or data or maybe some money,’ and that's part of it."
They demanded Tate send five hundred dollars in payment.
When he told them he could only offer thirty dollars, the extortionists rejected it and "allegedly told him to take his own life because it was already ruined."
"These are so much more nefarious. They actually end up bombarding the young person with messages about how their life is worthless now, and if they don't kill themselves, it's only going to get worse," states Nester.
It's reported that during the last 20 minutes of his life, Bryce received 120 messages from the tormentors. This happened in the span of a single night. His parents had no idea until they found his body soon after.
"It becomes so heartbreaking, so tragic, and — to be honest with you as a dad — infuriating," states Nester.
Nester encourages parents that if they intend to get their kid or teenager a new device, do not wait to have talks with them about the dangers of it, do not wait to put these parental controls in place, and do what you can to make it safer for them. Be in their business. Their lives and their well-being could depend on it,” says Nester.
He also said that parents should keep their child away from technology and social media for as long as they can.
