Online Scam

[Online123]

My son has sent someone posing as a girl an inappropriate image of himself on Whatsapp.  The person is threatening to send the image to all his contacts unless he pays right now.  How can we stop this?

[PapaBill]

Hi @Online123 

The sad truth is once inappropriate content is sent there is nothing that can be done to retrieve the content

Even systems the supposedly automatically delete messages can be screen captured and used later.

In my work we run across cyber criminals and they often do NOT keep to any bargain you reach after paying ransoms (or extortion in this case).  

While the government has cyber crime reporting site that you can use to report incidents   https://www.cyber.gov.au/report it might be difficult if the your son has been "Cat-fished"

[Claire-RO]

Hi @Online123 

Welcome to the parents forum. 

That sounds like a worrying situation, upsetting for you and your son, as well as the concerns around being threatened.

Is your son under 18? In any case the best approach would be to contact the police, they should have a department that specialise in online crime so touch base with them.  

Hopefully you can get the support that you need, there may be some other parents here that have been through something similar and can provide some suggestions in how you can support yourself and your son in this difficult time