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.
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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