September 7, 2025 • 33 mins
When 17-year-old Mac Holdsworth shares an intimate image of himself with someone he believes to be an 18-year-old girl online, he quickly becomes the target of a sex scam and is blackmailed for money.
A year later, a person linked to Mac's bank transfer is taken to court and pleads guilty. But by then, the image has already been shared, and Mac has taken his own life.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
In July of twenty twenty two. It's winter in the
Australian city of Victoria. It's been a dry season across
most of the states, with little rainfall and cold nights.
At home in the Mornington Peninsula is Wayne Holdsworth Frankston,
basketball CEO and father. He's been involved with sports for
(00:54):
most of his life and counts it as one of
his big passions. It's something he and his sixteen year
old son Mac have in common, or at least they
did until life took a tragic turn.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
His full name is McKenzie. We never called him McKenzie.
We always called him Mac or are calling Mecca. And
he was a boy that grew up always with a
smile on his face, with a lot of energy. He
was a bit of a dare devil. He loved to
do things that some may not want to do.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
The sport was big.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
He played a lot of basketball, played a lot of
football austral In football, and he was a really good
runner at school as well with cross country and the
longer distance was his fortee.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Wayne describes Mac as a leader within the family, a
kid who loved spending saturdays with friends, but also valued
time spent with family, a family that he fiercely protected,
especially his younger sister Daisy. That night in July twenty
twenty two, Wayne could tell that something was really bothering Mac,
(02:10):
who came into his room to tell him something. His
eyes were teary, and Mac isn't one to cry often.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
He said, dead of Madam Stike And I said, ask
him what was and he said, I've just sent a
pitcha to somebody, and I've just paid them five hundred
dollars because I said that they're going to share it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
All happened within just thirty minutes. Mac was talking on
Instagram with someone he thought was an eighteen year old girl.
She had sent anod photo of herself to Mac, and
in return, he had sent one back without covering his face.
Then everything went quiet until the phone rang. Excited, thinking
(03:03):
it was the girl, Mac answered, only to find it
was a man threatening to send his photo to everyone
on his friend list.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And he said to Mac, and Mac related this to me,
that I have your nude photo. I've got a list
of your friends here and one of them was me.
I was one of his contacts that if you don't
pay me five hundred dollars into this nominated bank account.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I will share that photo.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And so Mac panicked and thought, and Mack had to
go to football training the next night, and he was
one of the leaders at the football club and the
last thing he wanted was a new picture of himself
being distributed.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So I paid the man.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Five hundred dollars immediately, and Mack thought that was it,
that that was finished, the end of it, and I
relieved that. The phone rang again a few minutes later,
and the same man said to Mac, and these are
his exact words, that I received your five hundred dollars.
I wanted another five hundred dollars into this bank account
(04:09):
within five minutes, and if you don't, I will send
the picture. Your parents will hate you and you want
to kill yourself. And it was at that point and
he hung up on the man and he came in
to see me, and I remember hunting Mac after he
told me this, and I put my arms around him,
and I felt some mois from my shoulder. He was
(04:31):
crying and he was really devastated that that picture would
be distributed. And the phone rang again and Max said,
that's him again. He said, could you speak to him, Dad?
And I said, yeah, and look, we had a really
animated discussion. I don't think I've sworn as much as
I did that at night, ever, and we had a
(04:51):
really animated discussion which ended in him saying, I hope
you and your son died.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
They're not there to gree in the kids. They're not
there to create relationships to extort them that way. They're
there for the quick mark, regardless of what damage it
does to that kid. Anything that you can send a
picture on, anything that you can turn video on. And
even if they don't meet you on the platforms that
(05:22):
have that availability, they'll move you onto that platform to
be able to get that image out of you. That
conversation can take half an hour and then they're done.
They hello, how are you send me an image? I'll
send you one bang. Your life is over.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Brooke Baker is a senior Constable with the Australian Center
to Counter Child Exploitation known as ACE in Brisbane. It's
an Australian federal police led unit that was launched in
twenty eighteen as a response to the increasing number of
child sexual exploitation cases.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So extortion is where someone's threatened, coerced or encouraged for
financial gain, so they they do something or they involve
you in a scam purely for financial gain, whereas sextortion
is in relation to a child victim and they are
(06:23):
co werced into providing a sexual intimate image of themselves
and then then blackmailed or for money threatened for financial gain.
The most vulnerable people that the offenders are targeting a
boys generally aged between eleven to seventeen, sort of that
teenage early teenage.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Year since as launched, there's been a significant drop in reports,
but the unit remains concerned that too many Australian kids
are still being targeted by online predators. Earlier this year,
(07:04):
a study examining the prevalence and nature of extortion attempts
among a sample of the one nine hundred and fifty
four adolescens living in Australia found more than one in
ten had experienced a sexual extortion in their lifetime, and
out of those, more than half had experienced it before
(07:24):
the age of sixteen.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
So reporting the offender to the platform is the first
and foremost thing they need to do. Then they need
to block the offender from whatever platform they have met
them on, whether you know from one to the next
and then they need to stop all communication. So these
people will keep coming. They may create additional accounts to
come at you. Especially if the kids have present any money.
(07:52):
They will keep coming at them for more money, and
they will create new accounts, they'll create new emails. They
just keep hammering. So we suggest no further communication and
then report it through to the ACEH.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
After Wayne spoke with a man threatening Mac, he called
the police, he says. The police warned him it might
be tough to catch the guy as he could be
linked to a criminal organization. It would take three days
for Victoria Police to identify a suspect through his bank account,
(08:31):
which Mac had sent money to, but by then Mac's
photo had already been sent to everyone in his contact list.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
He changed significantly from that moment, and I recognized that
really quickly. He lost self esteem, He lost his character.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
He used to be. I wouldn't say a laugh at
the party, but.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
He was certainly upfront and laughing with everyone and making
jokes and just a normal chart and his childhood from
him by their predator.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
The bank account details identified by Victoria Police eventually led
to the arrest of a forty seven year old man
in New South Wales in August the following year, at
the scene of the arrest, where Detective Senior Constable Jason
Prakash and his team they have received the search warrant
(09:32):
for the suspect's property. Jason is the officer in charge
of the investigation and it's not his first time dealing
with six stortion cases like Max.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Starting to become very common in the past few years.
It's rapidly increased in terms of the amount of cases
we're getting. So initially that report came through from vic
Gloria Police, so the file learning on my desk at
(10:06):
the same time as files from other states with multiple victims.
Based on our checks, we were getting IP details for America. However,
(10:27):
that might not be the case. It's so easy for
a internet hacker or a someone involved in those topic
crimes to change their locations through VPNs.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
During the investigation, Jason says he and his team look
for evidence in multiple places, including the suspects devices and
social media platforms such as Instagram and snapschat where the
offense occurred. While the suspects bank details were linked to
Max Transfer, there are no intimate images found on his
(11:03):
devices and the police have found Internet Protocol or IP
details for America, which could indicate that a third party
is involved and behind the online conversations. In court, the
accused man's lawyers said that he had received the money
from mac into his own account, then been asked to
(11:25):
buy crypto with that money, to then transfer that into
someone else's name, But whether the suspect knew whether money
came from or if it was him on the phone
to Max Dad Wayne, the evidence couldn't answer.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
Our job is to identify who this person is, where
that money was transferred into, what sort of role this
person has with committing the offense of sextortion. Once we
find out there's money going into a certain person's account,
we need to identify if this person is actually being
(12:03):
coerced into doing certain things or is linked to a
certain syndicate. So we keep an open mind. So when
investigating matters like this, there are multiple offenses we look at,
(12:24):
including distribute intimate images, threatened to distribute intimate images, dealing
with proceeds of crime. He matched the evidence with the offenses.
It's all about meeting the proofs of the offense. So
each offense has a set of proofs that we need
to satisfy.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
He pleaded guilty to a charge of recklessly dealing with
the precedes of crime and eventually faced the sentencing in
January twenty twenty four. Meanwhile, life after this extortion was
tough for Mac. He started pulling away from the things
he used to love, breaking his usual routines, and slowly
(13:08):
isolating himself, not just from friends, but from family too.
Whenever someone asked if he was okay, Wayne said, Mac's
answer was always the same, all good.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
He used to write me these cards for Father's Day
and my birthday, being able a piece of paper and
he folded over and on the front he would draw
something that depict him an eye and sometimes it would
be playing for good or kicking the football in the
backyard or whatever, and then inside would be the dad
(13:45):
and he would write the most beautiful things on that
apl piece of paper that I could ever imagine. For
Father's Day, he bought me a check shirt with a ripping,
and later on I said to him, back there, it's
a beautiful shirt. Is there any car And is it that?
I can't write that card anymore? Because I can't trust it.
The words that are writing there won't be shared, so
(14:08):
he lost trusting everybody, including me.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Almost a year after this extortion, maximum, Renee, Wayne's former partner,
passes away. After battling with MS, Wayne makes an effort
to constantly check in on Mac, noticing his mood has
changed dramatically.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
For people that have been extorted sexually extorted, the signs
are really obvious that if they don't tell you, they
become very introverted, They become very withdrawn.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
They don't want to be part of a family anymore,
part of their friendship group. They become very isolated. And
that's an opportunity to delve and not just ask a question,
are you okay?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
That's not enough because I asked the rising to every
day and his typical response was on fine day.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Four months after Renee passed, Wayne finally started to see
a change in Mac's behavior. It seemed like he was
doing a lot better and becoming his old self again.
One night, after Wayne picked up his daughter from basketball practice,
the family sat down for their usual dinner together. Mac
had just gotten home from work. He was starving, but
(15:30):
in a good mood. Under the table, he kept playfully
kicking his sister Dacy's legs while making fun of Wayne's
bad jokes. He mentioned he was really looking forward to
Day's fifteenth birthday the next week and said he wanted
to get her something special.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
And then about nine point thirty he came in too
and where my wife and I Watchingston television. He said
to me, I, Dad, can I drive my car to
work in the morning? And he was on help plates
and done around two hundred and fifty hours. Is a
really good driver, and essentially what would happen would be
that he would jump in the driver's side. He put
(16:08):
his helplates on, not in the passenger side. We drive
to his work, and then I'd drive a car home
and he said to me. The last words he said
to me, he said, I can't wait to drive the
car to work in the morning. After I'd say, yeah,
that'd be great, and we said good night.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
The next morning started early for Waene, who woke up
when his wife had to leave for work around six
am to be traffic as she had it off. He
made himself a cup of tea and read the news
at the kitchen table.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
By about twenty to seven, I realized that he wasn't up,
which he was normally up about that time, and so
about ten to seven. I walked into knocked on his
door and there was no answer, and I opened the
door and he wasn't sleeping in his bed. I looked
to the left, he wasn't sleeping there, and I thought
instantly that maybe he just jumped on his bike and
(17:02):
decided to forget about our plans. But unfortunately I looked
to my right and he was there, and he'd taking
his own life.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It'll never be the same.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
It will never be the same because that morning, I mean,
I remember, you know, I've done some hard things in
my life, I really have, and I'm sure I will
in the future.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
But to after.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Getting him down and lining him down, and then having
to leave him and go into the kitchen and tell
his being fourteen year old sister that he passed away,
It's just.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Unfathomable.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I've never read anything about instructions for a dad when
that sort of thing happens. You know, my daughter ring
paramedics really quickly, Triple zero and the police arrived at
the same time.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
They rushed in thinking they might be able to save him.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
They then sawted out and now the senior police person
grabbed me in a bear hub virtually, and.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
He whispered in my ear, I'm sorry, mate, he's gone.
And as at that.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Point you know then that he's not coming back, you
have to start to think, what do you do?
Speaker 3 (18:26):
You know and had to ring people his closest and
tell them, his oldest brothers and tell them.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And it didn't take long for Wayne's phone to start ringing,
and soon his house was full of people offering their
condolences and leaving flowers. Not long after, he had to
meet with a funeral director to begin planning Max's funeral.
(18:56):
The experience was completely foreign to Wayne, who had to
make calls on whether his boy was to be cremated
or buried, what kind of casket he wanted, and what
kind of catering and flowers he'd like, all of this
while life around him continued to move on as if
nothing had.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Changed a few days after he passed, awhile I went
to the backyard and I saw his bike, and his
bike when I was wheeling, it had flat tires.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
And had a few cowbs on it.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
He hadn't written that bik for weeks and weeks, and
so that should have been a sign him not doing something.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
That he loved.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Seven days before the funeral. Wayne wrote a message on
the Frankston District Basketball Association's website. My colleague reads what
he wrote.
Speaker 6 (19:51):
On the early morning of Tuesday, the twenty fourth of October,
my beautiful, caring and loving seventeen year old son Mac
took his life at home. Thank you to the many
hundreds possibly more, that have already reached out, and to
my family, friends and the FDBA family led by Tim Bauer.
This message is not about my sadness. It's about not
(20:11):
only asking the question are you okay? To our young folk.
We must ask follow up questions like are you happy?
That may trigger some sign that we can direct them
to headspace or the like. I can either let this
break me or inspire me to educate others and we
may save one life. My choice is to never ever
give in. Max's funeral is on Thursday, second November at
(20:33):
three pm sharp at Connect Christian Church, one hundred and
thirty five Golf Links Road, Frankston. I want a full house.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I wanted everybody there and so at the funeral where
a lot of my friends and family, a lot of
my wist friends and family, but overwhelmingly there was so
many friends and connections of Mac from his football to
his basketball. They were all there. They wore their guernties,
(21:10):
they were their singlets. All the parents of the players
were all there. All the people from his school, all
the people from his primary school were all there. He
was a boy that had a fixation on numbers and
he would love to know that it was a fullhouse
at the funeral, And it was a full house, was overflowing.
(21:32):
I decided to host it because I wanted to make
sure that everyone was introduced properly, and everything was done
properly and no words were mispronounced. I wanted to be
done properly, and I wanted to be personal and refer
to some of the specific things that defined Mac. And
so I hosted it and I walked in with my family.
(21:56):
At the end was Brothers in Arms and typically that
song is fly just before ansact die because it's in
reference to people that.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Have gone to war.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
And I'm represented Australia and I want to everyone tonight
that we are all brothers in arms today, that we
all have to look after each other and represent each other.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Well.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
More than seven hundred people attended Max's funeral. Authorities even
had to block off nearby roads. As the crowd of
mourners spilled from the church into the car park and
then from the car park onto the road, Wayne and
his family walked out from the church to the sounds
of Now we are Free from the movie Gladiator by
(22:50):
Hans Simmer and Lisa Gerard.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You know, there's three things that I've noticed, you know,
talking to the hundreds of mums and dads that have
lost kids. Now, there's sort of two categories. The first
one is that you just want to take your own
life and you want to join him. And I had
suicidal thoughts for weeks, but I was connected to a
guy called Adrian Price from Support Out Suicide and spoke
(23:16):
with him every week for an hour, and he saved.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
My life without doubt, along with my wife.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
And then the second thing is I see, I see
this a whole lot, whole lot. Is that the parents
can't get back to anything like a normal life and
it's never normal again. But now they can't go back
to work after two, three, four or five years. You know,
some of them turned to alcohol and drugs, and in
many many cases, their relationship breaks up because you change,
(23:47):
it just changes people and they break up. But you know,
I just decided after about two or three months of grieving,
and I still grieve now and it's over eight eight months.
But I wanted to use next Step as a catalyst
to do more in suicide prevention and help save others.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
In the January twenty twenty four, about three months after
Mac took his own life, Wayne launched Smack Talk, a
name born from talking Smack on the basketball court, but
which also included Mac's name. It's an online platform dedicated
to leaving a legacy for Mac and with a desire
(24:29):
to educate and provide people with skills to best help
someone struggling with mental health and suicidal thoughts.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It's more around educating people on the signs, educating people
and the listening skills, you know, listening to understand before
we listen to resolve and respond.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
G're beauty of when someone.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Comes to you and shares something intimate with you, and
then you need to be in their moment and listening
to understand. So my program is forty minute program gauyat
To corporates nogayat To Quoting Words and a separate program
(25:12):
students from year nine or by the.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Twelve the same amount Wayne launched smack Talk. The forty
seven year old man was facing sentencing in the local
Court of Liverpool. Ninety eight days had passed since Mac
took his own life, and Wayne is in court waiting
to learn the outcome. The man has pleaded guilty to
(25:35):
recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime, which means he
knew the money came from an illegal activity but still
chose to handle it. However, the man also claims he's
a victim, blaming the ordeal on people located outside of Australia.
Detective Senior Constable Prakash companies Wayne to court for the sentencing.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Its common for police officers to attend a sentence hearing
with with a victim, victim of prime a witness, generally
generally for support. Usually people aren't familiar with the court processes,
(26:20):
explaining that court jargon that usually thrown around in court
legal terms they couldn't understand, but a police officer could understand.
The matter was heard at a local court in Liverpool
and there's certain levels of sentencing each levels of courts
(26:43):
have in the state or in the country, so Liverpool
Local Court a maximum you can be charged with these
two years. He was handed a prison sentence of ten
months would see six months parau, so after six months
he was released, which means the remainder being four months.
(27:10):
He reports to the Probation and Parao authority.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
During the sentencing, Wayne read a victim impact statement on
behalf of Mac. This is a formal, written or spoken
statement usually made by the victim to the court after
a defendant has been convicted, but before the sentencing. It
is their chance to explain how the crime affected them.
(27:35):
Jason believes these statements can have an impact on the
sentence outcome.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Usual practice is having a victim impact statement read, providing
that the victim's okay with it at the time. That
couldn't be read as Mac wasn't around at the time. However,
we did speak to the courts, so we didn't allow
(28:03):
allow Wayne to raid a victim impact statement to him,
being a victim as well.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I asked the new pense lawyer had he shared any
mouse and she looked at me an eye and see non.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
The offender also admitted another charge of dealing with the
preseds of crime regarding a similar but unrelated case to Max,
and other wholly unrelated offenses which were also taken into account.
He was sentenced to ten months in prison with a
non parole period of close to six months, and placed
(28:44):
on a twelve months supervised community corrections order. He was
also ordered to pay five hundred and two dollars to
Mac as victim compensation.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
This does not pass the pub taste, you know, and
you know, even some people would say that if you
receive five or six years pleader guilty, show remaws, that's
not enough, or I think it is.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I think the fact that if he showed remors that
he realized he does, he doesn't do it again. Then,
you know, even twelve months to be enough. You know,
it's given that I trust boople, but.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
To use the law and to use Mac's there in
the way in which they did is offensive and I
won't let this guy. I don't have hate, I don't
have revenge at all. What I do have is a
sense of justice because I can't save Mac, but I
(29:42):
can help others that are in that situation that if
they are extorted and they're lucky enough to find the
extraored person, then teach them a lesson and use them
as an exam, not let them get off.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Scott three basically, and that's where We've got some work
to do. There will be my next.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Task until this day. Wayne as stays active by running
and continuing to build smack Talk to both share his
experience and educate others. He is passionate about suicide prevention
and keeps advocating for change. He is supported restricting social
(30:23):
media access to children younger than sixteen, and has been
running the Unplugged twenty four campaign, calling on people to
step away from social media for twenty four hours on
the anniversary of Max's death the twenty fourth of October.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
And then my next task will be with the legal
system to ensure that I'm when people are being guilty
of this particular charge at the sentenced appropriately that really
build it.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Hided, and that's going to be a tough task.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
This has gone under the radar, underneath the carpet for far,
far too long, and sexual explosion is up four hundred
and sixty percent in the last eighteen months. It's getting
bigger and bigger and bigger, and we're doing nothing as
a country to fix it except for the legislation and
a bit of education.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
We're going to do a whole lot more to protect there.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
For Max birthdays, Wayne and his family will go and
visit him at the cemetery. There's a plaque there with
his name at birth and a death date, accompanied with
a text saying all good, just like he would say.
Wayne likes to leave yellow roses from his garden. It
was Max's favorite color. This year, on what would have
(31:40):
been max nineteenth birthday, nothing was different, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Over twenty of his friends gathered with me and we
celebrated his life and laughed about some of the things
that he would do when he was well. So we
don't we recognize it. We don't dwell on the negatives
because that could really get you down, so we really
focus on the positives. As a dad and as the
(32:06):
leader of the family, I have to lead by example
and be really upbeat.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
And I can tell you that's really hard. That's not easy.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
But I have to lead.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
And if I'm down, then the family have got a
reason to be down too. But if I'm up, then
they've got no reason to be down. So it's hard.
It's really really hard losing the sign. It's really difficult.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I just want to leave a legacy for Mac and
I want other families not to go through what we
went through, and Mac went through and as I said,
the only way I can reconcile next passing is by
with the knowledge of knowing that we're saving others.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
I'm Aline and I'm Lucy. Thanks for watching and listening
to seven New Spectrum.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
If you have a story that you think will make
a good episode, let us know at seven News Podcasts
at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Thanks
In July of twenty twenty two. It's winter in the
Australian city of Victoria. It's been a dry season across
most of the states, with little rainfall and cold nights.
At home in the Mornington Peninsula is Wayne Holdsworth Frankston,
basketball CEO and father. He's been involved with sports for
(00:54):
most of his life and counts it as one of
his big passions. It's something he and his sixteen year
old son Mac have in common, or at least they
did until life took a tragic turn.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
His full name is McKenzie. We never called him McKenzie.
We always called him Mac or are calling Mecca. And
he was a boy that grew up always with a
smile on his face, with a lot of energy. He
was a bit of a dare devil. He loved to
do things that some may not want to do.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
The sport was big.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
He played a lot of basketball, played a lot of
football austral In football, and he was a really good
runner at school as well with cross country and the
longer distance was his fortee.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Wayne describes Mac as a leader within the family, a
kid who loved spending saturdays with friends, but also valued
time spent with family, a family that he fiercely protected,
especially his younger sister Daisy. That night in July twenty
twenty two, Wayne could tell that something was really bothering Mac,
(02:10):
who came into his room to tell him something. His
eyes were teary, and Mac isn't one to cry often.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
He said, dead of Madam Stike And I said, ask
him what was and he said, I've just sent a
pitcha to somebody, and I've just paid them five hundred
dollars because I said that they're going to share it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
All happened within just thirty minutes. Mac was talking on
Instagram with someone he thought was an eighteen year old girl.
She had sent anod photo of herself to Mac, and
in return, he had sent one back without covering his face.
Then everything went quiet until the phone rang. Excited, thinking
(03:03):
it was the girl, Mac answered, only to find it
was a man threatening to send his photo to everyone
on his friend list.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
And he said to Mac, and Mac related this to me,
that I have your nude photo. I've got a list
of your friends here and one of them was me.
I was one of his contacts that if you don't
pay me five hundred dollars into this nominated bank account.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
I will share that photo.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
And so Mac panicked and thought, and Mack had to
go to football training the next night, and he was
one of the leaders at the football club and the
last thing he wanted was a new picture of himself
being distributed.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
So I paid the man.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Five hundred dollars immediately, and Mack thought that was it,
that that was finished, the end of it, and I
relieved that. The phone rang again a few minutes later,
and the same man said to Mac, and these are
his exact words, that I received your five hundred dollars.
I wanted another five hundred dollars into this bank account
(04:09):
within five minutes, and if you don't, I will send
the picture. Your parents will hate you and you want
to kill yourself. And it was at that point and
he hung up on the man and he came in
to see me, and I remember hunting Mac after he
told me this, and I put my arms around him,
and I felt some mois from my shoulder. He was
(04:31):
crying and he was really devastated that that picture would
be distributed. And the phone rang again and Max said,
that's him again. He said, could you speak to him, Dad?
And I said, yeah, and look, we had a really
animated discussion. I don't think I've sworn as much as
I did that at night, ever, and we had a
(04:51):
really animated discussion which ended in him saying, I hope
you and your son died.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
They're not there to gree in the kids. They're not
there to create relationships to extort them that way. They're
there for the quick mark, regardless of what damage it
does to that kid. Anything that you can send a
picture on, anything that you can turn video on. And
even if they don't meet you on the platforms that
(05:22):
have that availability, they'll move you onto that platform to
be able to get that image out of you. That
conversation can take half an hour and then they're done.
They hello, how are you send me an image? I'll
send you one bang. Your life is over.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
Brooke Baker is a senior Constable with the Australian Center
to Counter Child Exploitation known as ACE in Brisbane. It's
an Australian federal police led unit that was launched in
twenty eighteen as a response to the increasing number of
child sexual exploitation cases.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
So extortion is where someone's threatened, coerced or encouraged for
financial gain, so they they do something or they involve
you in a scam purely for financial gain, whereas sextortion
is in relation to a child victim and they are
(06:23):
co werced into providing a sexual intimate image of themselves
and then then blackmailed or for money threatened for financial gain.
The most vulnerable people that the offenders are targeting a
boys generally aged between eleven to seventeen, sort of that
teenage early teenage.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Year since as launched, there's been a significant drop in reports,
but the unit remains concerned that too many Australian kids
are still being targeted by online predators. Earlier this year,
(07:04):
a study examining the prevalence and nature of extortion attempts
among a sample of the one nine hundred and fifty
four adolescens living in Australia found more than one in
ten had experienced a sexual extortion in their lifetime, and
out of those, more than half had experienced it before
(07:24):
the age of sixteen.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
So reporting the offender to the platform is the first
and foremost thing they need to do. Then they need
to block the offender from whatever platform they have met
them on, whether you know from one to the next
and then they need to stop all communication. So these
people will keep coming. They may create additional accounts to
come at you. Especially if the kids have present any money.
(07:52):
They will keep coming at them for more money, and
they will create new accounts, they'll create new emails. They
just keep hammering. So we suggest no further communication and
then report it through to the ACEH.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
After Wayne spoke with a man threatening Mac, he called
the police, he says. The police warned him it might
be tough to catch the guy as he could be
linked to a criminal organization. It would take three days
for Victoria Police to identify a suspect through his bank account,
(08:31):
which Mac had sent money to, but by then Mac's
photo had already been sent to everyone in his contact list.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
He changed significantly from that moment, and I recognized that
really quickly. He lost self esteem, He lost his character.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
He used to be. I wouldn't say a laugh at
the party, but.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
He was certainly upfront and laughing with everyone and making
jokes and just a normal chart and his childhood from
him by their predator.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
The bank account details identified by Victoria Police eventually led
to the arrest of a forty seven year old man
in New South Wales in August the following year, at
the scene of the arrest, where Detective Senior Constable Jason
Prakash and his team they have received the search warrant
(09:32):
for the suspect's property. Jason is the officer in charge
of the investigation and it's not his first time dealing
with six stortion cases like Max.
Speaker 5 (09:45):
Starting to become very common in the past few years.
It's rapidly increased in terms of the amount of cases
we're getting. So initially that report came through from vic
Gloria Police, so the file learning on my desk at
(10:06):
the same time as files from other states with multiple victims.
Based on our checks, we were getting IP details for America. However,
(10:27):
that might not be the case. It's so easy for
a internet hacker or a someone involved in those topic
crimes to change their locations through VPNs.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
During the investigation, Jason says he and his team look
for evidence in multiple places, including the suspects devices and
social media platforms such as Instagram and snapschat where the
offense occurred. While the suspects bank details were linked to
Max Transfer, there are no intimate images found on his
(11:03):
devices and the police have found Internet Protocol or IP
details for America, which could indicate that a third party
is involved and behind the online conversations. In court, the
accused man's lawyers said that he had received the money
from mac into his own account, then been asked to
(11:25):
buy crypto with that money, to then transfer that into
someone else's name, But whether the suspect knew whether money
came from or if it was him on the phone
to Max Dad Wayne, the evidence couldn't answer.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
Our job is to identify who this person is, where
that money was transferred into, what sort of role this
person has with committing the offense of sextortion. Once we
find out there's money going into a certain person's account,
we need to identify if this person is actually being
(12:03):
coerced into doing certain things or is linked to a
certain syndicate. So we keep an open mind. So when
investigating matters like this, there are multiple offenses we look at,
(12:24):
including distribute intimate images, threatened to distribute intimate images, dealing
with proceeds of crime. He matched the evidence with the offenses.
It's all about meeting the proofs of the offense. So
each offense has a set of proofs that we need
to satisfy.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
He pleaded guilty to a charge of recklessly dealing with
the precedes of crime and eventually faced the sentencing in
January twenty twenty four. Meanwhile, life after this extortion was
tough for Mac. He started pulling away from the things
he used to love, breaking his usual routines, and slowly
(13:08):
isolating himself, not just from friends, but from family too.
Whenever someone asked if he was okay, Wayne said, Mac's
answer was always the same, all good.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
He used to write me these cards for Father's Day
and my birthday, being able a piece of paper and
he folded over and on the front he would draw
something that depict him an eye and sometimes it would
be playing for good or kicking the football in the
backyard or whatever, and then inside would be the dad
(13:45):
and he would write the most beautiful things on that
apl piece of paper that I could ever imagine. For
Father's Day, he bought me a check shirt with a ripping,
and later on I said to him, back there, it's
a beautiful shirt. Is there any car And is it that?
I can't write that card anymore? Because I can't trust it.
The words that are writing there won't be shared, so
(14:08):
he lost trusting everybody, including me.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
Almost a year after this extortion, maximum, Renee, Wayne's former partner,
passes away. After battling with MS, Wayne makes an effort
to constantly check in on Mac, noticing his mood has
changed dramatically.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
For people that have been extorted sexually extorted, the signs
are really obvious that if they don't tell you, they
become very introverted, They become very withdrawn.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
They don't want to be part of a family anymore,
part of their friendship group. They become very isolated. And
that's an opportunity to delve and not just ask a question,
are you okay?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
That's not enough because I asked the rising to every
day and his typical response was on fine day.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
Four months after Renee passed, Wayne finally started to see
a change in Mac's behavior. It seemed like he was
doing a lot better and becoming his old self again.
One night, after Wayne picked up his daughter from basketball practice,
the family sat down for their usual dinner together. Mac
had just gotten home from work. He was starving, but
(15:30):
in a good mood. Under the table, he kept playfully
kicking his sister Dacy's legs while making fun of Wayne's
bad jokes. He mentioned he was really looking forward to
Day's fifteenth birthday the next week and said he wanted
to get her something special.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
And then about nine point thirty he came in too
and where my wife and I Watchingston television. He said
to me, I, Dad, can I drive my car to
work in the morning? And he was on help plates
and done around two hundred and fifty hours. Is a
really good driver, and essentially what would happen would be
that he would jump in the driver's side. He put
(16:08):
his helplates on, not in the passenger side. We drive
to his work, and then I'd drive a car home
and he said to me. The last words he said
to me, he said, I can't wait to drive the
car to work in the morning. After I'd say, yeah,
that'd be great, and we said good night.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
The next morning started early for Waene, who woke up
when his wife had to leave for work around six
am to be traffic as she had it off. He
made himself a cup of tea and read the news
at the kitchen table.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
By about twenty to seven, I realized that he wasn't up,
which he was normally up about that time, and so
about ten to seven. I walked into knocked on his
door and there was no answer, and I opened the
door and he wasn't sleeping in his bed. I looked
to the left, he wasn't sleeping there, and I thought
instantly that maybe he just jumped on his bike and
(17:02):
decided to forget about our plans. But unfortunately I looked
to my right and he was there, and he'd taking
his own life.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It'll never be the same.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
It will never be the same because that morning, I mean,
I remember, you know, I've done some hard things in
my life, I really have, and I'm sure I will
in the future.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
But to after.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Getting him down and lining him down, and then having
to leave him and go into the kitchen and tell
his being fourteen year old sister that he passed away,
It's just.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Unfathomable.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I've never read anything about instructions for a dad when
that sort of thing happens. You know, my daughter ring
paramedics really quickly, Triple zero and the police arrived at
the same time.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
They rushed in thinking they might be able to save him.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
They then sawted out and now the senior police person
grabbed me in a bear hub virtually, and.
Speaker 3 (18:17):
He whispered in my ear, I'm sorry, mate, he's gone.
And as at that.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Point you know then that he's not coming back, you
have to start to think, what do you do?
Speaker 3 (18:26):
You know and had to ring people his closest and
tell them, his oldest brothers and tell them.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And it didn't take long for Wayne's phone to start ringing,
and soon his house was full of people offering their
condolences and leaving flowers. Not long after, he had to
meet with a funeral director to begin planning Max's funeral.
(18:56):
The experience was completely foreign to Wayne, who had to
make calls on whether his boy was to be cremated
or buried, what kind of casket he wanted, and what
kind of catering and flowers he'd like, all of this
while life around him continued to move on as if
nothing had.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
Changed a few days after he passed, awhile I went
to the backyard and I saw his bike, and his
bike when I was wheeling, it had flat tires.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
And had a few cowbs on it.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
He hadn't written that bik for weeks and weeks, and
so that should have been a sign him not doing something.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
That he loved.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Seven days before the funeral. Wayne wrote a message on
the Frankston District Basketball Association's website. My colleague reads what
he wrote.
Speaker 6 (19:51):
On the early morning of Tuesday, the twenty fourth of October,
my beautiful, caring and loving seventeen year old son Mac
took his life at home. Thank you to the many
hundreds possibly more, that have already reached out, and to
my family, friends and the FDBA family led by Tim Bauer.
This message is not about my sadness. It's about not
(20:11):
only asking the question are you okay? To our young folk.
We must ask follow up questions like are you happy?
That may trigger some sign that we can direct them
to headspace or the like. I can either let this
break me or inspire me to educate others and we
may save one life. My choice is to never ever
give in. Max's funeral is on Thursday, second November at
(20:33):
three pm sharp at Connect Christian Church, one hundred and
thirty five Golf Links Road, Frankston. I want a full house.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
I wanted everybody there and so at the funeral where
a lot of my friends and family, a lot of
my wist friends and family, but overwhelmingly there was so
many friends and connections of Mac from his football to
his basketball. They were all there. They wore their guernties,
(21:10):
they were their singlets. All the parents of the players
were all there. All the people from his school, all
the people from his primary school were all there. He
was a boy that had a fixation on numbers and
he would love to know that it was a fullhouse
at the funeral, And it was a full house, was overflowing.
(21:32):
I decided to host it because I wanted to make
sure that everyone was introduced properly, and everything was done
properly and no words were mispronounced. I wanted to be
done properly, and I wanted to be personal and refer
to some of the specific things that defined Mac. And
so I hosted it and I walked in with my family.
(21:56):
At the end was Brothers in Arms and typically that
song is fly just before ansact die because it's in
reference to people that.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Have gone to war.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
And I'm represented Australia and I want to everyone tonight
that we are all brothers in arms today, that we
all have to look after each other and represent each other.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Well.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
More than seven hundred people attended Max's funeral. Authorities even
had to block off nearby roads. As the crowd of
mourners spilled from the church into the car park and
then from the car park onto the road, Wayne and
his family walked out from the church to the sounds
of Now we are Free from the movie Gladiator by
(22:50):
Hans Simmer and Lisa Gerard.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You know, there's three things that I've noticed, you know,
talking to the hundreds of mums and dads that have
lost kids. Now, there's sort of two categories. The first
one is that you just want to take your own
life and you want to join him. And I had
suicidal thoughts for weeks, but I was connected to a
guy called Adrian Price from Support Out Suicide and spoke
(23:16):
with him every week for an hour, and he saved.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
My life without doubt, along with my wife.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
And then the second thing is I see, I see
this a whole lot, whole lot. Is that the parents
can't get back to anything like a normal life and
it's never normal again. But now they can't go back
to work after two, three, four or five years. You know,
some of them turned to alcohol and drugs, and in
many many cases, their relationship breaks up because you change,
(23:47):
it just changes people and they break up. But you know,
I just decided after about two or three months of grieving,
and I still grieve now and it's over eight eight months.
But I wanted to use next Step as a catalyst
to do more in suicide prevention and help save others.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
In the January twenty twenty four, about three months after
Mac took his own life, Wayne launched Smack Talk, a
name born from talking Smack on the basketball court, but
which also included Mac's name. It's an online platform dedicated
to leaving a legacy for Mac and with a desire
(24:29):
to educate and provide people with skills to best help
someone struggling with mental health and suicidal thoughts.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
It's more around educating people on the signs, educating people
and the listening skills, you know, listening to understand before
we listen to resolve and respond.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
G're beauty of when someone.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Comes to you and shares something intimate with you, and
then you need to be in their moment and listening
to understand. So my program is forty minute program gauyat
To corporates nogayat To Quoting Words and a separate program
(25:12):
students from year nine or by the.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
Twelve the same amount Wayne launched smack Talk. The forty
seven year old man was facing sentencing in the local
Court of Liverpool. Ninety eight days had passed since Mac
took his own life, and Wayne is in court waiting
to learn the outcome. The man has pleaded guilty to
(25:35):
recklessly dealing with the proceeds of crime, which means he
knew the money came from an illegal activity but still
chose to handle it. However, the man also claims he's
a victim, blaming the ordeal on people located outside of Australia.
Detective Senior Constable Prakash companies Wayne to court for the sentencing.
Speaker 5 (25:59):
Its common for police officers to attend a sentence hearing
with with a victim, victim of prime a witness, generally
generally for support. Usually people aren't familiar with the court processes,
(26:20):
explaining that court jargon that usually thrown around in court
legal terms they couldn't understand, but a police officer could understand.
The matter was heard at a local court in Liverpool
and there's certain levels of sentencing each levels of courts
(26:43):
have in the state or in the country, so Liverpool
Local Court a maximum you can be charged with these
two years. He was handed a prison sentence of ten
months would see six months parau, so after six months
he was released, which means the remainder being four months.
(27:10):
He reports to the Probation and Parao authority.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
During the sentencing, Wayne read a victim impact statement on
behalf of Mac. This is a formal, written or spoken
statement usually made by the victim to the court after
a defendant has been convicted, but before the sentencing. It
is their chance to explain how the crime affected them.
(27:35):
Jason believes these statements can have an impact on the
sentence outcome.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Usual practice is having a victim impact statement read, providing
that the victim's okay with it at the time. That
couldn't be read as Mac wasn't around at the time. However,
we did speak to the courts, so we didn't allow
(28:03):
allow Wayne to raid a victim impact statement to him,
being a victim as well.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
I asked the new pense lawyer had he shared any
mouse and she looked at me an eye and see non.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
The offender also admitted another charge of dealing with the
preseds of crime regarding a similar but unrelated case to Max,
and other wholly unrelated offenses which were also taken into account.
He was sentenced to ten months in prison with a
non parole period of close to six months, and placed
(28:44):
on a twelve months supervised community corrections order. He was
also ordered to pay five hundred and two dollars to
Mac as victim compensation.
Speaker 2 (28:56):
This does not pass the pub taste, you know, and
you know, even some people would say that if you
receive five or six years pleader guilty, show remaws, that's
not enough, or I think it is.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I think the fact that if he showed remors that
he realized he does, he doesn't do it again. Then,
you know, even twelve months to be enough. You know,
it's given that I trust boople, but.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
To use the law and to use Mac's there in
the way in which they did is offensive and I
won't let this guy. I don't have hate, I don't
have revenge at all. What I do have is a
sense of justice because I can't save Mac, but I
(29:42):
can help others that are in that situation that if
they are extorted and they're lucky enough to find the
extraored person, then teach them a lesson and use them
as an exam, not let them get off.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Scott three basically, and that's where We've got some work
to do. There will be my next.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Task until this day. Wayne as stays active by running
and continuing to build smack Talk to both share his
experience and educate others. He is passionate about suicide prevention
and keeps advocating for change. He is supported restricting social
(30:23):
media access to children younger than sixteen, and has been
running the Unplugged twenty four campaign, calling on people to
step away from social media for twenty four hours on
the anniversary of Max's death the twenty fourth of October.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
And then my next task will be with the legal
system to ensure that I'm when people are being guilty
of this particular charge at the sentenced appropriately that really
build it.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Hided, and that's going to be a tough task.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
This has gone under the radar, underneath the carpet for far,
far too long, and sexual explosion is up four hundred
and sixty percent in the last eighteen months. It's getting
bigger and bigger and bigger, and we're doing nothing as
a country to fix it except for the legislation and
a bit of education.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
We're going to do a whole lot more to protect there.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
For Max birthdays, Wayne and his family will go and
visit him at the cemetery. There's a plaque there with
his name at birth and a death date, accompanied with
a text saying all good, just like he would say.
Wayne likes to leave yellow roses from his garden. It
was Max's favorite color. This year, on what would have
(31:40):
been max nineteenth birthday, nothing was different, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Over twenty of his friends gathered with me and we
celebrated his life and laughed about some of the things
that he would do when he was well. So we
don't we recognize it. We don't dwell on the negatives
because that could really get you down, so we really
focus on the positives. As a dad and as the
(32:06):
leader of the family, I have to lead by example
and be really upbeat.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
And I can tell you that's really hard. That's not easy.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
But I have to lead.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
And if I'm down, then the family have got a
reason to be down too. But if I'm up, then
they've got no reason to be down. So it's hard.
It's really really hard losing the sign. It's really difficult.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
I just want to leave a legacy for Mac and
I want other families not to go through what we
went through, and Mac went through and as I said,
the only way I can reconcile next passing is by
with the knowledge of knowing that we're saving others.
Speaker 6 (33:14):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (33:14):
I'm Aline and I'm Lucy. Thanks for watching and listening
to seven New Spectrum.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
If you have a story that you think will make
a good episode, let us know at seven News Podcasts
at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:24):
Thanks
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