An Ohio teen died by suicide after an online predator blackmailed him. His story is now fueling a federal bill and an urgent warning for parents this school year.
CLEVELAND — EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.
In 2022, 17-year-old James Woods of Streetsboro, Ohio, thought he was talking to a girl his age on Instagram. Within hours, the conversation turned to threats and blackmail. James died by suicide.
His story is extreme, but the crime behind it — known as sextortion — happens every day, in every state. As kids head back to school and back online, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is warning parents to know the term, because most have never heard it. Nearly nine in 10 victims are boys between 14 and 17, and reports have climbed sharply in the past year.
How the scheme works
Sextortion often starts out looking like an ordinary online conversation. According to Dr. Scott Hadland, chief of adolescent medicine at Mass General Brigham Children’s Hospital, a stranger typically poses as a potential romantic partner and builds trust with a young person before asking for an explicit photo.
“Once that picture is sent to the culprit, then immediately the conversation changes, and that photo is used essentially as extortion or as blackmail, with the person threatening to release that photo to everybody in the young person’s life unless they are sent money,” Hadland said.
Many offenders operate from outside the United States, though the FBI has made arrests overseas.
Paying doesn’t make it stop
The most important thing a family can know is that paying rarely helps.
“As soon as a young person pays a person who is engaging in this extortion, that young person is just going to be asked to pay more and more and more to protect themselves,” he said.
Instead, Hadland recommends a young person tell a trusted adult immediately. From there, parents should stop the conversation, preserve the evidence, block the sender without deleting the account, and contact their local FBI field office.
A bill named for James
James Woods’ parents have spent years pushing Congress to act. Their advocacy helped drive the James T. Woods Act, a bipartisan bill that would make sextortion a specific federal crime. Lawmakers have attached it to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act, so its timeline now depends on when Congress passes that larger defense package — meaning the Woods Act could become law as early as late this year or early next.
Resources for families
- Report suspected sextortion to your local FBI field office or at tips.fbi.gov
- File a CyberTipline report with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at report.cybertip.org
- The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available anytime by calling or texting 988
