Joseph Edwards

　　导语：17岁的Joseph Edwards被发现在家中上吊自杀，原因是他曾收到一封诈骗邮件，声称他在网上下载了淫秽照片，为防止警察追究，要求他支付100英镑。Joseph Edwards为了不让母亲和姐姐失望，结果选择了自杀。警方称很难追查到诈骗邮件的发送人，很有可能来自国外。Edwards平时学习成绩优秀，但却因一封诈骗邮件而送了性命，这引起了英国社会对青少年网络鉴别诈骗能力的关心。Edwards的妈妈已经在当地开展活动呼吁青少年对网络诈骗提高警惕。

　　17-year-old with autism hanged himselfafter opening a scam email which appeared to be from police claiming he haddownloaded indecent images and demanding £100.

　　Joseph Edwards, an A-level student fromWindsor, Berkshire, likely didn't understand that the message was fake becauseof his learning difficulty, a coroner said。

　　Police say it will be almost impossible totrace the fraudsters behind the 'crude' email , but believe it may haveoriginated from abroad。

　　The 17-year-old was found hanged at hishome by his mother Jacqueline who has since launched a campaign to makechildren more aware of the dangers from internet scams。

　　Battling through tears, she told thehearing at Windsor Guildhall her son had been a 'happy boy.'

　　She added: 'He was generally happy and hadjust started new friendship circles and was enjoying himself,” she told thecoroner。

　　'He didn’t seem to have any worries knownto me. I don’t think he really understood. He did suffer from autism. I’m notsure he would have really understood the implications of what he was doing。

　　'He wouldn’t have done anything to upsetmyself or his sister, not deliberately.'

　　Ms Edwards told the hearing how, afterfinding his body, she had run screaming into the street。

　　The noise attracted a neighbour, truckdriver Lee Jobson, who came to help, and called the emergency services. Policeseized the teenager’s laptop, along with a note he had left。

　　Coroner Michael Burgess said: 'It seemsthat from examining the computer that there appeared to be some sort of scam onit。

　　He had inadvertently clicked onto this andit seemed to be, according to the police, "a poor attempt at blackmail."It (his autism) may have meant he took it very seriously.'

　　People with the developmental disabilityoften do not understand sarcasm or lies and take things very literally。

　　Detective Sergeant Peter Wall,investigating the scam, said it was very difficult to trace those responsiblebut that police believe it originated abroad。

　　It was thought Joseph received a spam emailwhich demanded money and downloaded a virus onto his computer。

　　The message came with a Cheshire Policelogo, despite the fact that he lived in Berkshire, which is served by ThamesValley Police。

　　(来源：每日邮报；编译：LULU)