Survivor parents and panel warn sextortion is rising; urge parents and lawmakers to act
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Summary
At a community presentation held at Beaver Dam Unified School District, parents who lost sons to sextortion and a panel including an Internet Crimes Against Children representative described how online grooming, AI and social media algorithms fuel sextortion, urged parents to talk with youth and called for stronger legal and platform safeguards.
At a community presentation hosted at the Beaver Dam Unified School District, two parents who lost teenage sons to sextortion recounted how rapid online grooming and escalation led to extortion and death, and they urged families and lawmakers to take concrete steps to prevent further tragedies.
John Demay, a father and former police officer who said he lost his son to sextortion, described the pattern he sees in investigations: long online grooming on social platforms, requests for mirror or live images, then rapid financial extortion. "I lost my son to sextortion, 4 years ago yesterday," Demay said, and he showed an interactive National Center for Missing & Exploited Children video to illustrate how predators move from messaging to blackmail.
Why it matters: speakers said the problem has grown as platforms and AI tools make image manipulation and rapid targeting easier. Demay cited NCMEC report trends, saying roughly 200,000 reports of enticement were logged in 2023 and that figure rose to more than 1,000,000 in 2024, and warned that AI has shortened the time between contact and harm.
Britney Byrd, whose 15-year-old son Braden died after a sextortion scheme, described their family's loss and the work that followed. Byrd said her group helped secure a state law she called "Braden's Law," which made sextortion a standalone crime in their state. "There is no gray area when it comes to children. Their safety is non negotiable," Byrd told the audience, urging families to speak up and to create plans for where a young person can turn if targeted.
Panelists and the audience discussed prevention and policy. On the question of legislation, Demay and other panel members said drafting precise statutory language is a major challenge and that lobbying by industry groups can insert preemption language or remove duty-of-care provisions. "When bills start to get to a certain level, they come in and dump a bunch of money and start threatening politicians," Demay said in answer to a question about why some federal child-safety bills stall.
Panelists recommended concrete local steps: use school-grade curricula such as NCMEC's NetSmartz, hold age-appropriate conversations with children, remove phones from bedrooms at night, and rehearse reporting steps for a trusted adult. A panelist described a local success in which a student who had received school training reported attempted sextortion to NCMEC and law enforcement rather than complying with demands.
Speakers emphasized two messages for young people: "It's not my fault" and "tell an adult." Demay said peers who receive urgent calls from friends should act rather than dismissing them: "If your friend reaches out to you ... say something." Byrd said families must avoid blame and prioritize support for victims.
The event included resource tables from Internet Crimes Against Children, the organizers and local law enforcement; attendees were invited to consult those resources and to share what they learned with others in the community.
The presentation ended with a call for continued public education and legislative attention; panelists urged parents to limit unsupervised social-media access for younger teens, use available school curricula and press policymakers for stronger platform accountability and clearer statutory language.
