A 15-year-old Perth boy spent weeks dealing with sextortion threats alone before finally telling his father that someone online was demanding money and threatening to send an intimate image to his schoolmates.
Jayden Smith* had met a person he believed to be a girl on Snapchat. After the conversation moved to Telegram, he was sent nude images and responded with one of himself, unaware that the exchange was being used to blackmail him.
The demands began at $50, accompanied by messages threatening to distribute the image to everyone at his school.
“Where’s the money? We’re going to release the picture. We’ll send it to everyone in your school,” his father, Grant Smith*, recalled.
Jayden eventually approached his father while he was working in the family shed. Grant said his son appeared withdrawn before quietly telling him: “I’m being blackmailed.”
Grant immediately recognised that the person behind the account was unlikely to be the girl Jayden thought he had been speaking to.
“It’s not a girl,” he told his son.
Rather than reading through the previous messages, Grant allowed Jayden to approve a response before he contacted the blackmailer himself. He offered to bring $2,000 to meet them, warning: “If you really know where he lives, what school he goes to, just tell me where to be.”
The scammer replied with laughing emojis. After Grant repeatedly tried to call, the account blocked him. Jayden then deleted the messages and blocked the number.
Grant said his son’s behaviour over the preceding fortnight suddenly became easier to understand. Jayden had missed several days of school and appeared increasingly troubled, although he had not explained why.
“It was clearly weighing on him significantly,” Grant said. “I assume there had probably been some sleepless nights in the two weeks before that.”
Advice for young people facing sextortion threats
The Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation advises victims to preserve information that could help identify the offender, without saving or sharing the intimate image itself. Relevant details can include usernames, phone numbers, account names and messages containing threats.
Commander Joanne Cameron said the organisation should be the first point of contact for anyone under 18 facing sexual extortion. She warned that fear and confusion could make young people believe they had been rejected when they were referred between different support services.
“The ACCCE is set up to provide exactly that practical advice support to victims of child sexual exploitation,” she said.
Jayden had contacted Kids Helpline, eSafety and Crime Stoppers before speaking to his father, but came away believing the services could not take practical action. Kids Helpline said its counsellors could discuss steps including preserving evidence, blocking or reporting users and accessing specialist assistance. A young person does not need a parent or guardian present to receive counselling or use relevant reporting pathways, the service said.
Current eSafety guidance says young people should stop communicating with the blackmailer, avoid sending more images or money, report what has happened and seek help from a trusted adult. For victims under 18, it directs them to the ACCCE.
New research by eSafety and the Australian Institute of Criminology found that more than one in 10 adolescents surveyed had experienced sexual extortion. The study of 1,953 Australians aged 16 to 18 found that nearly two-thirds had been targeted by someone they had met online but never in person.
eSafety also recorded more than 3,300 reports of sexual extortion in 2025, with 86 per cent made by males. The organisation has warned that young men may be particularly reluctant to seek help because they feel pressure to deal with the situation themselves.
Cameron urged parents to discuss online blackmail before a child becomes a victim, rather than waiting for a crisis.
“Sit down at the table tonight and talk to your teenagers about what you would do if this happened, not when it’s happened,” she said.
She added that children who did not feel able to approach a parent should speak to another trusted adult, such as a teacher, relative or counsellor. “Ultimately, this is not an issue we can police our way out of,” she said.
Grant said the incident had left him shaken, but believed the most important step had been creating an environment in which his son could finally speak openly.
“When I was done and I handed Jayden the phone back, I could feel that my hands were shaking,” he said.
