Boy, 14, thought he was flirting with woman online before being found dead 35 minutes later
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
A heartbroken mother says her 14-year-old son was the victim of a 'sextortion' scam, which tragically led him to take his own life.
Caleb Moore, a teenager living in El Dorado, Kansas, was on TikTok when he met another person who was pretending to be a '14-year-old girl'.
According to his mother, Morgan, the two began 'flirting' before moving their conversation to Snapchat. The 'girl' then allegedly sent compromising images of herself, leading Caleb to do the same.
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Morgan then said the person threatened her son to send over a large sum of money or else they'd leak the photos, which is a type of scam known as 'sextortion' where someone blackmails another person for cash with sexual pictures (via Met Police).
"They made him feel like his life was over as he had made this mistake." she said, adding that she thinks her son felt he had nowhere to turn.
After the 35-minute exchange, Caleb took his own life by shooting himself with a gun and passed away in his home.
The mum-of-five also said that her son had 'sent a photo of the gun' to the person in an attempt to stop the threats.
Morgan said she 'never thought this would happen to him or us', adding: "I found out about it right after Caleb had fired the gun because his dad called me.
"When I got there, Caleb was still alive and breathing but they were unable to resuscitate him so they stopped trying as nothing was working. He passed away in the house and it was very difficult because I wanted to be with him but they wouldn't let me go inside as they didn't want me to see anything.
"I was hysterical and screaming and begging them to not give up on my boy and let me go to him. I was inconsolable."
Describing it as 'the worst moment' of her life, the parents were confused at first as to why their son had shot himself, saying 'it didn't make sense'.
However, an investigation by El Dorado Police Department found the conversations on TikTok and Snapchat. They also confirmed that the chat had begun on TikTok before moving to another platform where the images were shared.
It is unknown whether Caleb had been using his real age on his social media profiles.
TikTok says they are committed to making their platform a safe and positive experience for teenagers, further adding that users under 16 have no access to direct messaging.
Adults are unable to send message requests to teenagers and no one in the US can send off-platform imagery in their direct messages. They go on to say that when people receive a message from someone for the first time, they are prompted to mark the conversation as safe or report the sender.
Messaging on TikTok is also not end-to-end encrypted, which they say makes their platform undesirable to those who wish to send explicit images.
Meanwhile, Snapchat's website page says they have strong safety settings in place for users aged 13-17 to help avoid unwanted contact with strangers, where their accounts are set to private by default and can only communicate with mutually accepted friends or numbers saved to their contacts.
Snapchat also has a Family Safety Hub which is made to help families safely navigate their platform.
According to the Met Police, anyone can be a victim of a sextortion scam, however, young adults between 15-17 and people under 30 are often most at risk.
Morgan is now spreading awareness to encourage children to tell a trusted adult if they feel like they are in danger online.
"Caleb was a pretty popular kid, really funny and goofy and made people laugh a lot. He was mild-mannered so got along with everybody. He loves sports and played football, basketball and was really good at wrestling," she said.
"I don't know how to stress enough to children to tell someone your parents about it or another trusted adult. You just have to tell someone because they purposely make it seem like they have so much more power than they do.
"You need to battle the false communication between the scammer and your child with open conversation with you and your child."
A El Dorado Police spokesperson said in a statement: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Moore family during this difficult time. We are amazed at the incredible strength and courage that this family has shown through the tragedy that they have suffered.
"We strongly support the fact that the family has made it a priority to share this story with others in an effort to protect the lives of other children and we intend to support this family in every way possible."
A GoFundMe was started to support Caleb's family through this incredibly difficult time, which you can see here.
LADbible Group has contacted TikTok and Snapchat for further comment.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
Topics: Social Media, TikTok, Snapchat
James Moorhouse