YORK COUNTY, S.C. — South Carolina Rep. Brandon Guffey, R-York, is hitting the road to help teens after he lost his son to suicide.
Guffey’s son, Gavin, took his life after becoming a victim of sextortion online.
The FBI warns that more children are being tricked by scammers into sending nude photos, and then pressured to send money.
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Cases are on the rise in the Carolinas and Guffey has been working to save others.
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“The average time someone makes a decision to take their life is 20 minutes, but if there is a gun involved, it’s less than three minutes,” Guffey told Channel 9′s Erica Bryant. “So, we started a nonprofit called Less than 3 to go out to fight, not only against cybercrimes but to go speak to teens about mental health awareness.”
Guffey travels in a Volkswagen bus nicknamed “The Struggle Bus,” which helps open the conversation about mental health.
If you’re a victim of sextortion or revenge porn, the FBI says don’t send the scammer money.
Save all photos, videos, text messages, and chats to be used in an investigation.
There’s a service called Take it Down to help remove any nude or sexually explicit content online that uses images taken before you were 18 years old.
VIDEO: Sextortion cases on the rise
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