Within hours, the 17-year-old, straight-A student and Boy Scout had died by suicide.
At the time, Stuart knew none of what her son was experiencing. She learned the details after law enforcement investigators reconstructed the events leading up to his death. The bureau says there were over 18,000 sextortion-related complaints in 2021, with losses in excess of $13 million. The FBI says the use of child pornography by criminals to lure suspects also constitutes a serious crime."To be a criminal that specifically targets children -- it's one of the more deeper violations of trust I think in society," says FBI Supervisory Special Agent Dan Costin, who leads a team of investigators working to counter crimes against children.
But investigators urge victims to quickly contact law enforcement, either online or at their local FBI field office. "You want to make it clear that they can talk to you if they have done something, or they feel like they've made a mistake," he said."You need to talk to your kids because we need to make them aware of it," Stuart said.
Velasquez said she spent many after-school hours on her cellphone, looking at photos and videos of teens comparing who could cut themselves deepest and starve themselves more, or reading sad quotes about no longer wanting to live. “That negativity is definitely not good for your mental health,” she said.
The teens that the South Florida Sun Sentinel spoke to said when deeply depressed or anxious, they go first to social media — rather than reaching out to adults or counselors who won’t relate to their pain. “They said things like, ‘Why not kill yourself, you’re better off dead.’ The way teens treat each other online can be so cruel,” she said.
After an appeal by Ian Russell, Instagram, one of the most popular sites for teenagers, banned graphic images of self-harm. ‘I WISH I HAD SEEN THIS EARLIER’ In the last two months, two South Florida teens, Alejandra Agredo and Bryce Gowdy, posted final public messages on Twitter or Instagram — “I bon voyage” and “to be or not to be” — before their suicides. In both cases, dozens of their teen followers “liked” the posts, while others commented long after it was too late, saying “I hope all is well” or “I wish I had seen this earlier.
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