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

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

"Someone reached out to him pretending to be a girl, and so they started a dialog," his mother, Pauline Stuart, instructed CNN, preventing 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 conversation rapidly grew intimate, after which turned criminal.

The scammer -- posing as a younger girl -- sent Ryan a nude photograph and then requested Ryan to share an express picture of himself in return. Immediately after Ryan shared an intimate photograph of his own, the cybercriminal demanded $5,000, threatening to make the photograph public and ship it to Ryan's household and buddies.

The San Jose, California, teen instructed the cybercriminal he couldn't pay the complete amount, and the demand was ultimately lowered to a fraction of the unique determine -- $150. However after paying the scammers from his faculty savings, Stuart mentioned, "They saved demanding more and more and placing a lot of continued stress on him."

At the time, Stuart knew none of what her son was experiencing. She realized the small print after legislation enforcement investigators reconstructed the events leading as much as his demise.

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

"He actually, truly thought in that time that there wasn't a way to get by if these footage have been actually posted on-line," Pauline stated. "His notice showed he was absolutely terrified. No little one should have to be that scared."

Law enforcement calls the rip-off "sextortion," and investigators have seen an explosion in complaints from victims leading the FBI to ramp up a marketing campaign to warn mother and father from coast to coast.

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

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

"To be a felony that specifically targets kids -- it is one of many more deeper violations of trust I think in society," says FBI Supervisory Special Agent Dan Costin, who leads a staff of investigators working to counter crimes in opposition to youngsters.

In keeping with Costin, lots of the sextortion scams reported to the FBI are decided to be from criminals on the African continent and in Southeast Asia. Federal investigators are working with their legislation enforcement counterparts around the world, Costin mentioned, to help establish and arrest perpetrators who're concentrating on youngsters on-line.

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

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

But investigators urge victims to quickly contact law enforcement, either on-line or at their native FBI field office.

Medical experts say there's a key purpose why younger males are especially susceptible to sextortion-related scams.

"Teen brains are still developing," stated Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent medication at Mass General in Boston. "So when something catastrophic occurs, like a personal picture is launched to individuals on-line, it's hard for them to look past that moment and understand that in the huge scheme of things they're going to be able to get by way of this."

Hadland stated there are steps mother and father can take to help safeguard their kids from online hurt.

"The most important thing that a father or mother ought to do with their teen is try to perceive what they're doing online," she mentioned. "You need to know once they're going surfing, who they're interacting with, what platforms they're using. Are they being approached by people who they don't know, are they experiencing strain to share information or pictures?"

Hadland said it is also important that folks particularly warn teenagers of scams like sextortion, without shaming them.

"You want to make it clear that they will speak to you if they've carried out one thing, or they really feel like they've made a mistake," he stated.

Ryan's mom agrees.

"You'll want to talk to your kids as a result of we need to make them conscious of it," Stuart mentioned.

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

"How might these people have a look at themselves in the mirror figuring out that $150 is more vital than a toddler's life?" she says. "There is no different phrase however 'evil' for me that they care rather more about money than a baby's life. I don't need anyone else to undergo what we did."