Last year at a conference I was introduced to South Carolina State Representative Brandon Guffey. His son Gavin, the oldest of his children who recently graduated from high school, died at 17 by suicide in 2022. He was a very cool and popular kid who probably never considered suicide once in his life, but overwhelmed, influenced, and instantly compromised in a sextortion scheme it took less than an hour. The father, proudly and lovingly engaged in his children’s lives, while engrossed in his campaign for state house just rooms away, says that when he heard his son “hit the floor like a bowling ball” his heartbreaking moment had only just begun.
Representative Guffey and one of his younger sons were later harassed online by the scammers who had been posing as a female to Gavin and had convinced him to provide nude photos of himself. Following Gavin’s death, the scammers attempted to financially blackmail Guffey and his younger son with the threat of releasing photos of Gavin.
DHS Action
This previous weekend at a conference near Washington D.C., I was honored to attend a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) presentation by Agent Kate Kennedy of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI.) She is a driving force behind the rapidly growing campaign, Know2Protect. I’ve seen firsthand the monumental effort invested by HSI agents. One of my best friends is a HSI agent earning hard won promotions over the years, so I am intimately aware of the courage and the tenacity of these investigators.
From the Know2Protect about page: “In 2023, in recognition of the growing importance of this work, the department added its first new mission since 2003: combating crimes of exploitation and protecting victims. This step reflects the department’s emphasis on stopping perpetrators and supporting victims and survivors.”
The severe, even deadly, actions of foreign bad actors have cascaded today on our youth like a tidal wave. It is our job to see this threat before it comes in, and to respond adequately to protect our young ones.
Today, we can barely see them. Representative Guffey later found out that Gavin had an additional three accounts that his parents didn’t even know about. From everything that I know, Gavin wasn’t a bad kid, and from knowing his parents, there is no doubt that he knew he was loved.
Statistical Rise
The most recent data from 2025 shows there were 1.4 million reports of online enticement, up 158% from 2024. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received reports in 2025 averaging 137 per day, an increase of 37% over 2024. Due to the 2024 enactment of the REPORT Act, there was a new requirement for Electronic Service Providers to share enticement and extortion in addition to previous requirements to document child sexual abuse material.
The percentages are shocking, but we don’t have the real trending stats. The REPORT act opens our eyes to see how many instances were not previously reported. Analysis of current data is clear, online exploitation, enticement and manipulation are rising dramatically.
Exploitation of children is nothing new.
Before the iPhone hit the market a 19 years ago, and before mobile high speed and immersive endless and addictive scroll apps pushed their way into the marketplace in 2012, there was a crime category of crimes against children. Long before detectives had internet capable PCs at their desks, states had legislated sex offender registries that included high risk offenders registered as sexual predators. There was still a great need for trained investigators and specialized squads. Better laws were named for the victims in Florida including Adam Walsh, Jessica Lunsford, and Jimmy Ryce.
What’s changed today, especially if you are the parent of a 15-year-old born in 2011, is that these present online dangers weren’t even created and were not in the ‘new parent’ manual when your child was born. As the use of the internet became widespread in the late 1990s, it was billed as the information superhighway, but by 2000 pornography quickly became the second largest consumer of bandwidth.
Today, foreign bad actors treat their destructive scams as full-time employment similar to the sales bullpen in Glengarry Glen Ross. Across oceans and time zones, criminals work to compromise, even kill and destroy, the children of our nation. With a few keystrokes in a game chat, message board, or on an app, these money motivated scammers treat our children like their lucky slot machine or worse. Without a doubt, many in this filthy business would be on an offender registry if they were in this country. This has been the dramatic shift where the foreign adversary’s primary interest to damage the American child is not rooted in satisfying their prurient desires but for financial gain. A search on video hosting platforms interviewing these degenerates demonstrates the absolute coldness of their apathy toward their juvenile victims.
NCMEC, what used to be called ‘The Center’, is seeing a dramatic rise in incoming complaints with compliance to the REPORT Act beginning in 2024. That will be a noticeable statistical bump, but it is already obvious that within many categories, year to year increases in the foreseeable future will be profound and gravely concerning.
How we must respond
We must be honest and recognize that this threat to national security and our nation’s citizens will be marked with multiple casualties. Today, The Center documents three dozen teenage boys have taken their own lives due to providing elicit content and being blackmailed. I’m sadly certain that figure is low by the hundreds.
The currency of espionage has always been sexual compromise. Who wouldn’t break a rule, violate a policy, or even betray their own government to save their child? Who can say that this hasn’t happened already?
This is why it is so important to recognize the mission of the Department of Homeland Security. Their campaign, Know2Protect, is the keystone necessary for arch of investigation, prevention, education and enforcement to be solid and effective. I wish it was as easy as we are going to have a briefing, throw on some tactical gear, and jump in a van with the best of the best.
Instead, we are up against trans-national terrorist organizations, many state-sanctioned who target us and our children. It used to be the only group we had to protect our children from were perverts and documented sex offenders. Today it is foreign nations using financial means to undermine family structures with the goal to blackmail elected officials and other power brokers.
This is one of the very few scenarios where I admit that law enforcement cannot physically arrest their way out of the problem. To succeed for our youth, we must adopt an Apollo 11 mindset: failure is not an option! Our laser focused goal must be to arm every parent and child with each an effective age-appropriate message on how to succeed online and in the family. The DHS and their investigative arm HSI deserve our full support and engagement.
Today, let’s keep all our peace officers in your prayers, especially the ICAC and HSI task force agents protecting all our children!
Roland Clee served a major Florida police department as a Community Service Officer for more than 26 years. His career included uniformed patrol, training, media relations, intelligence, criminal investigations, and chief’s staff. He writes the American Peace Officer newsletter, speaks at public safety, recruiting and leadership conferences and helps local governments and public safety agencies through his business, CommandStaffConsulting.com.
His work is frequently featured on LawOfficer.com, the only law enforcement owned major media presence in the public safety realm.
For media interviews and podcast appearances, click here: http://bit.ly/40pT3NS
References
https://www.dhs.gov/know2protect
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/13/us/brandon-guffey-gavin-sextortion-law-cec
https://us.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline/cybertiplinedata