Mark and Ros Dowey, the parents of a British teenager who committed suicide after becoming the victim of sextortion, have made a direct appeal to Nigerian criminals to cease frightening children.
Their 16-year-old son took his own life after being tricked by Nigerian scammers posing as a girl, who manipulated him into sending explicit pictures of himself.
Speaking about their son’s death, they shared that they were then threatened with the release of the material to family and friends unless they complied with the blackmailer’s demands, one of which they believed led Murray to take his own life.
Mark told the BBC that his son was “a really lovely kid” and that neither he nor his wife had any idea something was wrong.
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“He went up to his room, and he was absolutely fine. And you know, we found him dead the next morning,” he said.
His mother added, “We had no chance to intervene, to notice there was something wrong and try and help and fix it.”
The couple, Mark and Ros Dowey, expressed their heartbreak over their son’s death, saying, “You’re abusing children. You’ve ended Murray’s life.
“How would they feel if it was their child, their little brother or their friend? I mean, it’s so cruel, and this is children, and it’s abuse.
“You’re terrorizing people, children, for some money, and I don’t think in any society that is in any way acceptable.”
The couple also criticized tech companies, stating that they could do much more to combat sextortion.
Mark said, “Social media companies could do so much more, and the reason they don’t do so much more is money. It will stop them making more billions than they’re making.’
Ros said, “They make big headlines about caring and trying to stop, but they need to put their money where their mouth is.
“The technologies are there for them to stop so many of these crimes being perpetrated, so much of the harm being shown and then forced onto kids through algorithms.
“But they don’t, you know, they don’t care, because all they care about is profits.”
Ros encouraged anyone who had fallen victim to sextortion to not feel ashamed and to reach out for help.
She said, “Everything in life passes. There’s nothing that is worth taking your own life for.
“So if something happens to you, put that phone down and go and get somebody you trust and tell them it’s happened, and don’t be ashamed at what you’ve done.
‘Thousands of children are sharing images. It’s happened. Put the phone down, go and talk to somebody; it really won’t be the end of the world,” she added.
