Parents of boy, 16, who took his own life after a fraudster claiming to be a ... trends now
The parents of a teenager who took his own life after falling victim to an ‘evil’ sextortion scam have said their ‘world has been shattered’.
Murray Dowey, 16, from Dunblane, was contacted on social media by someone claiming to be a young girl but who was actually a fraudster there to trick him into sending an intimate image.
The Perthshire schoolboy was then blackmailed with the photograph and took his own life just days after Christmas.
Now parents Mark and Ros Dowey have spoken out about the callous scam which claimed their son’s life.
The devastated couple said they ‘don’t want this to happen to any other family’ and urged social media platforms to step up the safeguarding for teenagers ‘immediately’.
Murray Dowey, 16, from Dunblane, was contacted on social media by someone claiming to be a young girl but who was actually a fraudster there to trick him into sending an intimate image
Parents Mark and Ros Dowey have spoken out about the callous scam which claimed their son’s life
Murray took his own life on December 30 last year, just hours after he was blackmailed.
The Stirling Albion fan, who had been enjoying the Christmas holidays with his parents and two brothers, is the latest tragic victim of a surge in sextortion cases.
Ms Dowey told ITV News: ‘That evening we were just chatting and watching rubbish on telly. We were just a normal family of five.
'To the next morning, we’re down to four people with a huge Murray-shaped gap that’s never going to go away.
‘He’s my little boy. To think of my little boy in such distress and not to reach out for help, it’s awful.’
Sextortion is when images are used for financial exploitation and coercion – a crime which is often committed by foreign organised gangs who target young men online before blackmailing them for money.
Police Scotland has revealed an ‘increase in sextortion incidents being reported’ and charities have told of their helplines being inundated with calls from victims.
Ms Dowey said her son was a ‘normal, happy teenager’ who had ‘everything to look forward to’.
The family said they never thought that evening
