Grieving mum claims son, 14, killed himself after cruel 35-minute TikTok ‘sextortion’ plot

"It's so heartless and anonymous"

A mum claims a 35-minute chat with a 'girl' on TikTok cost her son's life - when it turned out to be a cruel social media 'sextortion' plot that drove him to suicide.

Morgan Moore claims her son Caleb Moore, 14, was 'flirting' with who he believed was a 14-year-old girl on TikTok on June 10th, before moving to Snapchat.

After the 'girl' allegedly sent him compromising photos of herself, the mum-of-five says Caleb then sent over similar photos in return.

Morgan says 'she' then began to threaten Caleb and demanded he stump up a large amount of cash or they would leak his photos.

In that moment Morgan believes her son felt like he had nowhere to turn and he shot himself.

Morgan claims Caleb's conversation with the sinister stranger saw her son's 'happiness and hope destroyed in 35 minutes'.

Following his death, the 33-year-old says TikTok and Snapchat should have more effective monitoring on their platform to stop fraudulent accounts like this existing.

The carer is now bravely sharing Caleb's tragic story to encourage parents to have 'constant' open conversations with their children to combat scams online and avoid the same thing happening to others.

TikTok said that their platform does not allow messaging for those aged under 16 however El Dorado Police Department said that the conversation began on TikTok before moving to another platform on which the images were sent.

It is unclear if Caleb had used his correct age to access the platform.

Snapchat said they offer 'strong safety settings' for Snapchat users aged between 13-17 and have a Family Safety Hub on their website designed to help families navigate Snapchat safely and confidently.

Morgan, from El Dorado, Kansas, US, said: "I want his death to have as much meaning as his life did, which was a lot. He is very, very missed and very loved.

"I never thought this would happen to him or us. I found out about it right after Caleb had fired the gun because his dad called me.

"When I got there Caleb was still alive and breathing but they were unable to resuscitate him so they stopped trying as nothing was working.

"He passed away in the house and it was very difficult because I wanted to be with him but they wouldn't let me go inside as they didn't want me to see anything.

"It was the worst moment of my life. At this point, we didn't know why Caleb had shot himself. It didn't make sense.

Morgan says her son had been using TikTok for about a year and says they had had open conversations about internet safety.

Before shooting himself, she claims Caleb even sent a photo of the gun to the TikTok user to try and stop the threats but it didn't help.

Morgan said: "These people intentionally manipulate what a 14-year-old boy would be vulnerable about - their sexuality, the family's wellbeing and social status.

"I don't think Caleb thought that we wouldn't help him, I think he felt like we wouldn't be able to help him or fix it and it was going to be his fault and none of these things are true.

"The most devastating loss I can imagine is losing one of your kids and now I'm in that situation and it was all so avoidable."

"It's so heartless and anonymous. The police are doing what they can but the reality of them tracking down the individual is really low.

"It's incredibly overwhelming because even though Caleb was the most loved kid and happy, funny and responsible on these platforms and this still happened to him.

Caleb's funeral took place on June 16th and Morgan says around 300 people turned up to celebrate his life.

She is now using her son's tragic death to urge other children to tell a responsible adult if they feel they are in danger online.

She said: "I don't know how to stress enough to children to tell someone your parents about it or another trusted adult.

"You just have to tell someone because they purposely make it seem like they have so much more power than they do.

"You need to battle the false communication between the scammer and your child with open conversation with you and your child."

An El Dorado Police Department spokesman said: "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Moore family during this difficult time.

"We are amazed at the incredible strength and courage that this family has shown through the tragedy that they have suffered.

"We strongly support the fact that the family has made it a priority to share this story with others in an effort to protect the lives of other children and we intend to support this family in every way possible."

Following his death, a GoFundMe page was set up to help support Caleb's family at this difficult time. After funeral costs his parents are going to use the extra funds to set up a scholarship fund for the local athletics team.

You can donate to Caleb's GoFundMe page here.