No mercy for tragic victims like Ronan, 17
THERE have been a series of tragedies triggered by sextortion in which teenagers have taken their own lives out of shame.
Ronan Hughes, 17, from County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, killed himself in 2015 after he was targeted on Facebook by a gang in Romania.
They threatened to release his pictures to his family unless he sent them £3,400 in a cyber currency. Ronan told them: “I’m only 17, please, I’m begging you — don’t.”
But the blackmailer replied: “That’s not my problem. Foolishness has a price. And you’ll pay.
“Do you want to tell your mother or will I? You have 48 hours from now. Time is running out!”
Ronan was found dead in a field near his home. The scammers were later caught in Romania and jailed for four years.
In 2013, 17-year-old Danny Perry from Dunfermline in Fife died after he jumped off the Forth Road Bridge.
He had been tricked into an explicit Skype chat with someone he thought was an American girl his age.
But a gang threatened to show the video to his family and friends, unless he paid them off. If he failed to transfer the cash, Danny was told he “would be better off dead”. Two men were later arrested in the Philippines on suspicion of blackmailing him, but they have not been prosecuted.
In 2017, the Mirror went to the Ivory Coast to investigate sextortion gangs there and uncovered the tragic case of a third British suicide victim, who we agreed not to name.
He was lured into a Skype chat and tricked into sexual activity in front of his webcam. The blackmailer threatened to post the footage on YouTube and show it to his Facebook friends unless he was sent cash.
The frantic youngster tried to send £350. But his bank blocked the transfer, suspecting fraud.
After he had been online for just 100 minutes, the victim wrote: “I’d rather go and shoot myself, you f***ing trash making people do this.”
The blackmailer replied: “I thank you I want your money more I will share your video bye?” Three minutes after that, the young man typed a suicide note. His body was found the next day.
Do you want to tell your mother or will I? Time is running out
BLACKMAILER MESSAGE TO RONAN HUGHES