// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Ministers vow online safety action after teen sextortion victim took own life
The coroner said Cai was bombarded with video calls and messages via Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp over a very short period
The UK government has said it remains committed to making the online world as safe as possible for young people following the death of a teenager who took his own life after he fell victim to an online sextortion scam.
Cai Davies, 18, died in June 2025 after he had sent messages to a woman he believed had a romantic interest in him.
South Wales Central Coroner's Court heard he had been targeted by scammers operating from Africa, who demanded money from him and said intimate photos would be sent to his friends and posted on YouTube.
The coroner addressed a Regulation 28 preventing future deaths report, external to the UK and Welsh government with her concerns about how Cai had fallen victim to the scam.
Assistant coroner Rachel Knight recorded a conclusion of suicide after Davies, from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, died.
Knight said it was "more likely than not" that personal stresses in his life together with falling victim to the sextortion scam "more than minimally contributed" to his death.
She wrote of the scammers: "Conversation quickly turned sexual and she asked him for intimate images, which were then used to blackmail him for money by threatening to send the images to his family and friends, and to upload them to a YouTube channel.
"The images were indeed sent to at least one of Cai's Facebook friends by the scammer.
"Cai was bombarded with video calls and messages via Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp over a very short period of time making demands for money."