A 15-year-old sophomore reportedly took his own life after being allegedly “sextorted,” as plots targeting American children rise.
According to The New York Post, Bryce Tate was enjoying an ordinary Thursday like any normal teen when he got a text from an unsaved number. Three hours after receiving this message, he was found deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his own home. But what would drive a kid, who just hours earlier had “scarfed down a plate of tacos prepared by his mom” and gone outside to play basketball, to take such drastic action?
This father, Adam Tate, rejects the idea that his son committed suicide.
“They say it’s suicide, but in my book it is 100% murder,” he told the outlet. “They’re godless demons, in my opinion. Just cowards, awful individuals, worse than criminals.”
The people he’s talking about are online scammers who catfished his son, only to use his private information against him in the worst way.
“They acted like a local 17-year-old girl. They knew which gym he worked out at, they knew a couple of his best friends and name-dropped them. They knew he played basketball for Nitro High School,” Bryce’s father explained. “They built his trust to where he believed that this was truly somebody in this area.”
The scammers even sent Bryce photos of a girl who is believed to be another victim in the scheme. They asked for illicit photos of the victims and once they receive them, the photos are used to blackmail the children for money. In Bryce’s case, they demanded $500.
“My son had 30 freaking dollars and he’s like, ‘Sir, I’ll give you my last $30.’ And these cowards wouldn’t take it,” Adam recalled.
“If the target doesn’t have the money to send via untraceable methods like gift cards, cryptocurrency or apps like Cash App or Venmo, the extortionists threaten violence and, in Bryce’s alleged case, outright encourage the victim to kill himself ‘because your life is already over,'” The Post reported. “In the last 20 minutes of Bryce’s life, he was messaged 120 times, a tactic to keep teens feverishly engaged — creating a ‘tunnel vision to where you can’t set your phone down,’ Adam said authorities told him.”
Unfortunately, this often successful form of extortion is on the rise, and it’s targeting vulnerable young people who may not realize the danger they’re putting themselves in by engaging with these scammers.
“The FBI has seen a huge increase in the number of sextortion cases involving children and teens being threatened and coerced into sending explicit images online,” explained FBI public affairs specialist Bradford Arick.
The FBI has indicated that even children as young as 11 years old have fallen prey to these schemes, which are often operated outside of the United States.
More from The Post:
While the FBI won’t comment on specifics in Bryce’s case, citing the ongoing investigation, the sadistic nature of the communications he received are emblematic of the teen sextortion ring known as 764, which has tentacles in Russia, Europe, Africa and the US.
On December 3, five US-based members of 764 offshoot Greggy’s Cult — including one Navy sailor — were indicted by the Department of Justice. In a press release last month, the FBI described 764 as a “violent online network that seeks to destroy civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors.”
“I had the utmost respect for my son. He was hilarious. Funny kid, goofy. If you were around him and you were having a bad day, you could not help but get in a better mood and smile and laugh and just enjoy that light that he was,” Adam said.
Authorities are encouraging parents to monitor their children’s online usage and talk to them about the dangers of engaging with unknown people online, including giving out personal identifying information, sending photos, and especially engaging in sexually explicit conversation.
“Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok, make sure it’s set so that you have to authorize who follows you. Don’t leave it [public]. Don’t ever send any sexual pictures. Just don’t do it. Don’t send photos to anybody you don’t know,” said Sgt. Jeremy Burns with the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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