The Rising Threat of Sextortion Targeting Young Boys

0:00 Speaker 1 Sunday morning. Well, Labor Day weekend. Can you believe that the summer is over and 9-11 is next week? We have Lynn Shaw, lynnswarriors.org, protecting our kids. Well, Lynn, tell us what’s going on this week, this Labor Day weekend.

0:18 Speaker 2 Well, good morning, John. Not only is it Labor Day weekend, we’ve got all the kids going back to school across the nation. So we want to drill down today on Sextortion, our teen boys in America, the justice system protecting all kids and some good news directly from President Trump. I want to talk about this sextortion, John. What exactly is sextortion?

0:41 It is it’s the online exploitation and blackmail of a child, specifically our teen boys, usually 12 to 17. What they do, the criminal, the predator, online, they pretend to be another teenager. They build the trust. They obtain usually an intimate image and dialogue, and then they threaten the child. Pay me.

1:03 Send me more pictures. I’m going to tell your parents. I’m going to tell your church. I’m going to tell your school friends. I’m going to tell everybody at your baseball league. And teen boys are embarrassed about a lot of things. So what do they do, John? They try to pay them. They also target these extortionists. They try

1:20 to go to, you know, like middle, what they deem middle class, upper middle class. Again, a reason with back to school. Do not put your kids pictures of back to school online because that’s where these prayers are sitting down. Specifically, like in Nigeria, collecting information, scouring Facebook and YouTube and TikTok and Instagram and listing information because, again, we put

1:41 everything of our lives online. So this is a financially motivated crime. And what is happening right now is we have some good news. I don’t like, John, to use the word good news with all of this. But we at the Warriors brought a group of parents to Mar-a-Lago on March 1st, 2026. We wanted to put these survivor parents,

2:06 all of their children. died, John, because of sextortion, cyberbullying, sex trafficking, eating disorders, again, all online. We wanted to put them in front of the president, who we were very honored that he would sit and talk to them and hear these stories. and understand as a father and a grandfather what is going on. We want it to

2:27 shine this light. But I want to tell you about Walker Montgomery because this is the good news. Walker was a 16-year-old boy from Mississippi. He had a brother. He was an athlete. He was a young man with a very bright future. Everybody loved him. Great parents. It wasn’t a vulnerable family. They’d go to church. Everything you could imagine, okay? And, again,

2:49 he was sextorted. And instead of going to his parents, he decided, I can’t take this pile on. I don’t have $ 500. I can’t answer these demands. Johnny killed himself. We can’t have our teens killing themselves because a stranger thousands of miles away piles on our kids and their young minds who can’t handle all of this. So this

3:13 is the good news. That day, March 1st, President Trump spoke to Brian Montgomery, dad of Walker, and Courtney Montgomery, mom. He said, we’re going to get this guy. We’re going to bring him back to the United States. I’m going to take care of this. And do you know, John, he exactly did this. And I won’t say this criminal’s name, okay?

3:32 But he was indicted recently on federal charges. He went on a Monday. They picked this guy up in Nigeria. They had him in the court on Tuesday. He is locked away now. And these two brave parents, Walker Montgomery’s parents, Brian and Courtney, and we work with them at the Warriors, had to sit a couple of feet behind this guy,

3:51 26 years old, Part of a sextortion crime ring. Just sit around warehouses doing this all day long to American teens. And they had to witness, you know, hold their emotions. Can you imagine how hard this was? I mean, they carried their pain, you know, to Mar-a-Lago. President listened to them and he promised them. So this is good news,

4:11 because at the same time, John, the president also put out a memorandum. recently that we’re going to go after transnational crimes, including sextortion. So, look, none of this brings back water to this grieving family. But what it does, they’re outspoken. They’re helping other families and children. And we have to the message on all of this is this

4:34 is good news. The president wants to go after using extra cybersecurity firms, really going after these rings that are targeting our kids. But in the meantime, It starts in the home. You’ve got to talk to your kids. You’ve got to tell them you’re not going to get in trouble.

4:47 You’ve got to explain to them if somebody approaches you online, you come to us.

4:51 Speaker 1 We’ll take care of it. I know that. You have grandkids now, and you have to worry about that in the future, and I have grandkids now. We have to worry about that in the future, and we have to look out for our children. But all the mothers and fathers out there that have teenagers, you better keep your

5:09 eyes open.

5:10 Speaker 2 The lesson really is very simple. You talk to your kids. You believe your kids. You protect your kids. And if a predator comes into your home, okay, you hold them accountable by calling. Don’t erase images. Don’t yell at your child.

5:24 You call 911. Then you call local FBI office. We have them all over America, field different offices. But you know what? Every parent, caregiver, has to have the conversation today. There are reporting tools. The president is on this. FBI, let’s give them a great big shout-out. Department of Justice, they did this. They got this one criminal and more

5:45 to come. So for the Walker family, can’t bring back their son, but there is a form of justice, John.

5:51 Speaker 1 Thank you, Lynn Shaw. Thank you for doing what you do for our kids. Lynn’sWarriors.org. Thank you so much. Thanks, John.