Investigators can see the last victim interaction happened only about two and a half hours earlier. Another girl. Another conversation. Another screen McCartney had not let go of.

This episode follows the case of Alexander McCartney, a man who created fake profiles posing as teenage girls and used those identities to target young victims across countries. What looked, from the other side, like another girl around the same age became a trap: a friendly message, a photo, a threat, and then control.

The investigation begins with reports from Scotland and New Zealand, moves through NCMEC and U.S. investigators, and eventually reveals a scale that is almost impossible to process: victims across the world, hundreds of thousands of images, and a case that forced prosecutors to ask a difficult legal question.

Can someone behind a screen be held criminally responsible for a death, even if he and the victim never met?

This is not only a story about sextortion. It is about speed. How fast harm can move through a phone, how slowly systems can respond, and why bringing someone else into the conversation can be the first moment control starts to break.

Content warning: sextortion involving minors, child sexual exploitation, online coercion, self-harm, suicide, and death. Listener discretion advised.

Hosted by Frank Battiston. Produced by Daniel Urdanivia. A PowerTale Podcasts production.

Stay Aware · Stay Present · Stay Safe.

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Follow LURKERS:

Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast

YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast

Website: powertaleproductions.com

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Follow LURKERS:

Instagram: @thelurkers_podcast

TikTok: @thelurkerspodcast

YouTube: @TheLurkersPodcast

Website: www.thelurkerspodcast.com

Production note: All narration, quoted messages, and dramatized readings are performed by the host or human voice actors. Some voices are altered through sound design and are not original recordings unless identified as such.

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