Dad felt sick and angry after discovering sextortion scam on 14-year-old sons phone

A dad was left feeling “sick and angry” after making a horrifying discovery on his son’s phone — as it points to a growing problem in Australia.Matty Acton, from Brisbane radio show Stav, Abby & Matt, recently revealed that his 23-year-old son, Ethan, had almost fallen victim to a sextortion scam when he was just 14.Sextortion is a form of blackmail where someone threatens to release a sexual image or video of the victim unless they give in to their demands.More than one in 10 adolescents in Australia are victims of the growing crime, according to the eSafety Commission and the Australian Institute of Criminology.The effects can be life-threatening, with 15-year-old American student, Bryce Tate, tragically dying by suicide just three hours after a strange number demanded $750 to not send explicit images of him last year.Speaking to news.com.au, Acton said, like any teenager, his son was always glued to his phone.“We had a very clear agreement with him that as long as he was given access to things like social media and the internet via his phone, we would be able to check his messages and what he was up to at any time,” the radio star said.“One day, while checking, we noticed he was speaking to a young girl whom we had never met or heard him talk about.“She wasn’t someone from his friend circle or a sibling of any friends that we knew of.”The messages started off friendly, like two people getting to know each other, before becoming very flirty.Eventually the girl began asking for photos of him.“They started out very innocently, as if they were gaining his trust before becoming flirtatious,” Acton explained.“When they graduated to asking for sexual or nude photos, the scariest part was that they specifically asked him to include his face.“They gave step-by-step instructions on exactly what they wanted.”Acton said he later learned what sextortion was, and believed that his son was the victim of an attempted blackmail scheme.“I fel...