Online safety education can help prevent deaths like that of a teenager who fell victim to a sextortion scam, a coroner says.
Rohan Patrick Cosgriff was 17 when he was found dead at his home near Ballarat in July 2022.
In his pocket was a note that said: “I made a big mistake. I’m sorry.”
Police later discovered that in the two days before his death, the teenager was a victim of sexual extortion.
He had been pressured into sending an intimate photograph of himself to someone called ‘Christine’ on SnapChat, who then threatened to distribute the images unless she was paid money.
Investigators were unable to identify the person, but found that the SnapChat account originated in Nigeria.
In a report released last week, Victorian coroner Audrey Jamieson said there was a wealth of information available to those who needed it, but a shift in education was needed.
“The fact is that with all the education in the world and no matter how many times you repeat the message ‘don’t send intimate images’, young people will continue to do these things,” Jamieson said.
‘The conversation should be about if you find yourself in this situation, everything is going to be okay.’
Teenage victims of sextortion, like Rohan Cosgriff, need to know everything will be okay, coroner says
Rohan befriended a stranger who posed as a teenage girl on Instagram.
A total of 11 other young people have also taken their own lives in the last decade after being victims of sextortion or image-based abuse.
At least seven other people died after experiencing sexual harassment (but not image-based) or sextortion.
“If a young person finds themselves in a situation like Rohan’s, the most important thing is for them to know that they have done nothing wrong,” the coroner wrote.
“And that the situation will not define the rest of their lives.”
The coroner also suggested the teenager’s death could inform the regulatory review of the national Online Safety Act, particularly with regard to tackling sextortion led by transnational criminal syndicates.
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