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

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

"Someone reached out to him pretending to be a woman, and so they began a dialog," his mother, Pauline Stuart, instructed CNN, preventing again tears as she described what happened to her son days after she and Ryan had completed visiting a number of schools he was contemplating attending after graduating high school.

The online conversation quickly grew intimate, and then turned prison.

The scammer -- posing as a younger girl -- sent Ryan a nude photograph after which asked Ryan to share an explicit picture of himself in return. Instantly after Ryan shared an intimate photograph of his personal, the cybercriminal demanded $5,000, threatening to make the photo public and ship it to Ryan's family and pals.

The San Jose, California, teen told the cybercriminal he couldn't pay the full quantity, and the demand was in the end lowered to a fraction of the unique determine -- $150. However after paying the scammers from his faculty savings, Stuart said, "They stored demanding more and more and putting a number of continued pressure on him."

On the time, Stuart knew none of what her son was experiencing. She realized the details after regulation enforcement investigators reconstructed the events leading up to his demise.

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

"He actually, really thought in that time that there wasn't a solution to get by if those pictures have been really posted online," Pauline stated. "His observe showed he was absolutely terrified. No baby should have to be that scared."

Legislation enforcement calls the scam "sextortion," and investigators have seen an explosion in complaints from victims main the FBI to ramp up a campaign to warn dad and mom from coast to coast.

The bureau says there have been over 18,000 sextortion-related complaints in 2021, with losses in extra of $13 million. The FBI says the usage of child pornography by criminals to lure suspects also constitutes a serious crime.

The investigation into Last's case is ongoing, Stuart and the FBI tell CNN.

"To be a criminal that specifically targets children -- it is one of the extra deeper violations of trust I think in society," says FBI Supervisory Particular Agent Dan Costin, who leads a staff of investigators working to counter crimes against kids.

In line with Costin, lots of the sextortion scams reported to the FBI are determined to be from criminals on the African continent and in Southeast Asia. Federal investigators are working with their regulation enforcement counterparts around the world, Costin mentioned, to assist identify and arrest perpetrators who're targeting kids online.

One challenge for the FBI: many victims of sextortion don't report the incidents to law enforcement.

"The embarrassment piece of this is probably one of the greater hurdles that the victims have to beat," stated Costin. "It may be rather a lot, particularly in that second."

However investigators urge victims to rapidly contact legislation enforcement, both online or at their local FBI field workplace.

Medical experts say there is a key motive why younger males are particularly weak to sextortion-related scams.

"Teen brains are nonetheless growing," stated Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent medication at Mass Normal in Boston. "So when one thing catastrophic happens, like a private picture is launched to people online, it is exhausting for them to look past that moment and understand that within the huge scheme of things they're going to be capable to get through this."

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

"The most important factor that a guardian ought to do with their teen is try to understand what they're doing online," she stated. "You wish to know once they're going surfing, who they're interacting with, what platforms they're utilizing. Are they being approached by those who they don't know, are they experiencing strain to share info or images?"

Hadland stated it is also important that folks particularly warn teenagers of scams like sextortion, with out shaming them.

"You need to make it clear that they can speak to you if they have achieved one thing, or they feel like they've made a mistake," he said.

Ryan's mother agrees.

"You could talk to your kids because we have to make them conscious of it," Stuart mentioned.

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

"How may these people have a look at themselves within the mirror understanding that $150 is extra essential than a baby's life?" she says. "There is not any different word but 'evil' for me that they care far more about cash than a toddler's life. I do not want anyone else to go through what we did."