A tragic story recently surfaced about 15-year-old Bryce Tate. He ended his life just 2 hours and 32 minutes after his first interaction with a suspected Nigerian Yahoo Boy on Instagram. The scammer posed as a 17-year-old girl.

Within minutes, the "girl" built trust with Bryce and sent him intimate photos of "herself."

When the "girl" asked Bryce to send one back, he complied immediately—only to be told:

"I have your nude photos. Give me $500 or I'll destroy your life."

Bryce responded by taking his own life.

Sadly, this is not the first such case. Unsuspecting young people find themselves targeted by sextortionists demanding more explicit content, or by scammers demanding money for silence.

Erin West of "Operation Clover" put it well when she said:

[You have the AI advantage. You can say the person in the photo isn't you.]

She's right—but even if the person isn't you, it doesn't lessen the humiliation of having your sexual images deepfaked and distributed online.

After all, if the material falls into an employer's hands, how do you convince them it wasn't your fault without taking full responsibility?

As an anti-sex-trafficking advocate and international speaker, I frequently receive pleas from children around the world who tell me they've received nude photos and want them back.

But the truth is, like most financial scams, the chances of getting those photos back are virtually zero.

Sextortion isn't limited to "small-time" operators like Yahoo Boys roaming social media.

Many people don't realize that sextortion is also a massive business run out of scam compounds.

A Filipino scammer described how she and her team would spend hours engaging in online dating interactions, receiving explicit sexual messages, and of course the "obligatory" male genital photos.

Once the man on the other end was "aroused," the conversation quickly moved to the next stage.

In this stage, the scammer would video call with the victim, and both would masturbate—but the scammer was recording without the victim's knowledge.

That recording was all they needed to start the next step: extortion.

Given that the "attack" methods against both children and adult victims are nearly identical, the simple answer is not "don't send photos"—because in today's world, that advice simply doesn't work.

A better recommendation is not to take photos that include your face or other personally identifiable information.

However, even that won't stop scammers from stealing your face and pasting it onto someone else's body, or onto your own nude body.

Therefore, the only real solution is to ensure there are no photos of your face anywhere online—not on your LinkedIn profile, social media platforms, or any media or news outlets.

People often lack empathy for sextortion victims and instead shame and blame them.

Whatever our views on taking nude photos and sharing them voluntarily with someone we trust, sharing those images publicly without consent is a crime and should be punished accordingly.

How many more suicides like Bryce's must occur before we truly start caring about this issue?

There's a campaign in the UK:

Stop, Think, Don't Get Scammed

These three simple words are, in my opinion, a principle that applies to every situation:

Stop:

When your online contact asks for nude photos.

Think:

About the consequences if those photos fall into the wrong hands and are seen by family, friends, or colleagues.

Scam:

Can you really be sure the person you're talking to is who they claim to be?

Are you absolutely certain the phone or video call is conducted by a real person and not faked?

Is there even the slightest chance you could be the victim of a scam, and that these photos could lead to sextortion?

If you have even a shred of doubt, don't take the photo—and definitely don't send it.