The devastating sextortion of Mac
Sending nude photos is commonplace among young people today – but the consequences can be devastating. For Mac Holdsworth, it was an incident he never recovered from and just months later, aged 17, he took his own life.
Mac was on his computer in his room one night in July 2022 when he befriended someone he thought was a young woman on Snapchat. They got talking and at some point in the conversation, he embellished his ‘physical status’.
She quickly sent him a nude picture and he responded by sending a nude photo of his own.
She then told him he was beautiful and that he wanted a new picture with his face in it.
He sent one and within minutes, got a phone call from a middle-aged man with an accent who threatened that if he didn’t pay $500 to a bank account, then he would distribute that photo.
He said he would send those nude pictures of Mac to all his friends and family on Instagram and Snapchat.
Mac panicked and paid him $500. About five minutes later, the man rang again and wanted another $500.
It was at that point that Mac went to his father, Wayne, and said, ‘Dad, I made a mistake’.
“I wrapped my arms around him and said, ‘You haven’t made a mistake. You’re the victim here’,” Wayne told his son.
Wayne said to Mac that the next time that man called to hand the phone over to him.
Not long after, the man called again and Wayne told him that he was a senior member of the Mornington police and that he had his number.
“He said to me, ‘I don’t care if your son dies or if you die’ and hung up on me. It was then that he hacked Mac’s accounts and sent the pictures to many of his friends,” Wayne said.
Wayne immediately took Mac to the Mornington Police Station and reported it.
The police were really supportive and said exactly what Wayne had – that Mac was the victim.
The police took all the details but said they thought they were unlikely to able to catch the man, saying it was likely he was a money mule for a cartel in Nigeria or Russia.
Wayne and Mac left thinking that they had done the right thing by reporting it, but Mac was really worried because he had to go to footy training the next night. He was worried that his teammates had got that picture – and it turned out some of them did.
The following morning, Wayne contacted the Coach, the Team Manager and the Captain of the team before footy training and told them what had happened. They said, ‘Leave it to us, we’ll sort it out’.
When Mac got to training, they all made it into a bit of a joke and they laughed about it before using it as an educational tool – a good example for the rest of the team of not what to do.
Within five minutes, Mac was running around the Oval with the rest of his team.
But Wayne said Mac never recovered from it.
“He became really withdrawn. He used to write some beautiful Christmas cards and Father’s Day cards and cards to Daisy and his Mum. He stopped writing cards.
“I asked him one day. ‘Why? Why don’t you write greeting cards anymore? And he said, ‘Dad, I’m just worried that they’ll get into the wrong hands’. He was really worried about that”.
He was Captain of the footy team – the Premiership team – and he didn’t want to be in the leadership group anymore. He felt that he wasn’t worthy. His self-esteem dropped dramatically and he became really withdrawn.
“In hindsight, these were warning signs. If I had known then what I know now, we would have been able to see that as a major problem. We would have worked with him to get some really good counselling to ensure that his self-esteem got back to where it was and not just treated it as ‘he’ll be okay now’,” Wayne said.
About six or eight weeks before taking his own life, Mac seemed to be the best he’d ever been and that he was back in form, back on track.
“He was happy, laughing, enjoying himself. But that was a facade. He was happy because he’d already planned his exit from the world and that he was really content that he was going to a better place in his mind,” Wayne said.
The evening before
The evening before Mac passed away was a normal one in the family household. It was a Monday night, and Wayne brought Daisy home about 6.30pm after watching her play basketball.
Mac had been home since about 4.30. He finished work early after early morning starts. Wayne’s wife Maggie had made a lovely dinner of fish, vegetables and salad and they all sat down at the table.
“Maggie was at one end. I was at the other. Daisy was on my left and Mac on the right. I discovered later that Mac was tapping Daisy’s leg under the table in response to some of my really stupid Dad jokes. He was in fine form.
“Daisy’s birthday was the following week and Mac told her, ‘I can’t wait to take you out, maybe on Wednesday, and we’ll go and buy a gift and get a bite to eat or something like that’. So it seemed he had plans for the rest of the week, at least”.
He went to his bedroom to watch a movie. He always went to bed about 9.30. That evening, he came out at 9pm he said,’ Oh, Dad, can I drive my car to work tomorrow?’
Because he was on L-plates, it meant I’d be in the passenger side and I said, ‘Yeah, that’d be fine, mate’.
He replied, ‘Dad, I can’t wait to drive my car tomorrow’. And I said, ‘Great’.
We said, ‘Good night and see you tomorrow’.
But devastatingly, that wasn’t to be.