Chilling text message teenage boy received before taking his own life – as his devastated parents speak out

The grieving parents of a teenage boy who took his own life after falling prey to a ‘sextortion’ scam have spoken out in a bid to help other young Aussie victims.

Rohan Cosgriff, from Ballarat in the Central Highlands of Victoria, about 115 km north-west of Melbourne, had ‘befriended’ a teenage girl on Instagram.

The 17-year-old did not realise the girl he spoke with was a ruthless scammer from Nigeria.

After earning his trust, the cruel hoaxer convinced Rohan to send an explicit photo of himself.

Once the photo was sent, the extortionist threatened to make Rohan’s image public and demanded the teen pay $1,000.

Within hours of being blackmailed, Rohan took his own life on July 26, 2022.

Rohan Cosgriff, 17, (pictured) took his own life in 2022 after falling victim to a sextortion scam

On the night of Rohan’s death, his dad, Anthony Cosgriff, was doing paperwork on his computer when his wife, Beck, noticed their son was not in his room.

When he didn’t answer his mobile phone, the couple began searching the house and their horse stables for him.

‘I thought I’ll just go over and check what we call the oval, which was the grassy area where we always played ball games next to the house,’ Mr Cosgriff told 7News Spotlight.

Mr Cosgriff spotted his son’s body there and made the heartbreaking discovery that he had committed suicide.

The devastated father tried everything he could to bring his son back and performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

A sobbing Mrs Cosgriff said she and her husband sat in their car and watched as paramedics worked on their son but were unable to save him.

‘I went inside, and I didn’t want Rohan to be cold, so I just grabbed his doona,’ Mrs Cosgriff said.

‘We had a pillow as well, and just put the pillow under his head and we just laid down with him in the rain and just patted his hair and told him we loved him.’

His grief-stricken parents Beck and Anthony Cosgriff (pictured) spoke out about the devastating death of their son in the hope they can prevent other young Aussies from falling victim to the cruel scam

The very next day, police found a note inside Rohan’s bedroom that read: ‘I’m sorry. I’ve made a huge mistake. I love you all so much.’

The Cosgriffs soon found out their son was a victim of a sextortion scam and have spoken out in the hope they can help other young Aussies.

Rohan had told the scammer blackmail was illegal and that he was ‘just a kid’ and did not have any money.

Just hours before Rohan took his own life he received a reply from the scammer that read: ‘Right, now you’ve got half an hour until we ruin your life.’

Mr Cosgriff added: ‘According to the policeman, the pressure that was put on him was immense. And that it was within an hour of him first being asked for money.’

Mr Cosgriff believes the traditional message of ‘don’t send explicit images’ needs to be backed up with, ‘If you do, it’s not the end of the world. We can fix it’.

His wife agrees, claiming the message needs to take the shame away from teenagers who have sent explicit images.

‘The reality is lots of kids send d*** pics. They just do. They shouldn’t. It’s a silly thing to do. But they get caught up in the moment for whatever reason,’ Mrs Cosgriff said.

‘People need to know it can be dealt with, that they’re not committing the crime. Someone else is committing a crime against them.

‘Rowan was a victim of crime and he’s dead because of it.’

Rohan was befriended by a stranger pretending to be a teenage girl on Instagram. The scammer pressured him to send an explicit photo of himself before threatening to share the image unless he paid $1,000

An investigation into Rohan’s death was launched by Victoria Police in July 2022, which alerted the Australian Federal Police in October but an official referral was never made.

The AFP explained it has never been the agency responsible for leading the investigation, while details of the case were not passed onto Nigerian authorities.

In a statement on April 17, Victoria Police advised case information has been forwarded to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation which ‘are ‘undertaking further assessment of the matter’.

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NIGERIAN SEXTORTIONIST SPEAKS OUT ABOUT HOW HE TARGETS YOUNG AUSSIES

A sextortionist in Lagos, Nigeria, known as ‘Daniel’ explained the easy methods scammers use to prey on unsuspecting teenagers.

The 21-year-old university student pretends to be a teenage girl by the name of Evelyn-Joanne on social media.

Daniel demonstrated to journalist Sarah Greenhalgh how they ‘choose’ their victims – usually teen boys aged 13 to 17 from ‘wealthy’ countries, including Australia and the United States.

‘We just act as if you’re looking for a relationship or maybe just sex chats because most of them like sex chat,’ Daniel said.

Within hours of gaining his victim’s trust, Daniel begins sending explicit female photos taken from adult websites and encourages the boys to do the same.

‘Now I’ll tell him that if he not pay $1,000 that I’m going to post the nude. I’ll send it to all his family members, all his friends, everybody,’ Daniel said.

Daniel claims he has stopped his sextortion scam after learning about the deaths of teenagers in Australia and the United States.