A teen died after being blackmailed with A.I.-generated nudes. His family is fighting for change
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Elijah Heacock was a vibrant teen who made people smile. He "wasn't depressed, he wasn't sad, he wasn't angry," father John Burnett told CBS Saturday Morning.
But when Elijah received a threatening text with an A.I.-generated nude photo of himself demanding he pay $3,000 to keep it from being sent to friends and family, everything changed. He died by suicide shortly after receiving the message, CBS affiliate KFDA reported. Burnett and Elijah's mother, Shannon Heacock, didn't know what had happened until they found the messages on his phone.
Elijah was the victim of a sextortion scam, where bad actors target young people online and threaten to release explicit images of them. Scammers often ask for money or coerce their victims into performing harmful acts. Elijah's parents said they had never even heard of the term until the investigation into his death.
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