All language subtitles for Trafficked.with.Mariana.van.Zeller.S04E02.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH

[chatter]

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Why didn't you stop?

[Mariana Van Zeller] This is a
story about a new kind of scam.

[Reporter] Sextortion.

[News Anchor] Sextortion.

[Reporter] It's
called sextortion.

[Mariana Van Zeller] One
that feeds on loneliness, and

thrives at the crossroads
of desperation and greed.

[Mariana Van Zeller] All it
takes is one message from

a stranger, one moment of trust,

one compromising photo
to change everything.

[Brandon Guffey] Nine
months ago tomorrow,

I lost my 17-year-old
son to suicide.

[Mariana Van Zeller] This is a
journey from the bedrooms of

America, to the back
alleys of the Philippines,

as I search for some of the most
ruthless scammers on the planet.

Oh.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
No, you did not!

[theme music plays]

[Cindy] He was
going to college.

He was about to graduate,
to become a teacher.

The weekend before, he
came to my house and stayed.

We went to a soccer game
and we just had a lot of fun.

And then Sunday
he left to go home

and that night is when
the trouble started.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Jake was
at home when he received a

private message on Facebook.

The message was from a
beautiful young woman,

sweet and flirtatious.

But the conversation
quickly took a turn.

[Cindy] This is his phone.

[Mariana Van Zeller] His phone?
Do you mind if I see it?

[Cindy] Uh-hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller] He says,
"Go face a big mirror and take

a full nude photo of you.

Or a video.

If you can't do that,
then we can't play."

And then he asks, "How do
I know I can trust you?"

"You and me are just
going to play and have fun.

No need for trust issues."

[Cindy] And then he
does take it at one point.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, my.

And immediately, it
was within seconds.

They said, "So just added, and
save all your Facebook friends

on my laptop."

"I am going to send them your
nude photo and post it all over

your friend's Facebook timeline,
and also to your job.

But I will not do
that if you can

send me money
right now, okay?"

Jake has become a victim of
sextortion, a blackmail scam

in which the criminal coerces
someone into sharing sexual

pictures or videos,

and then threatens to release
them if they're not paid.

The person chatting with Jake
gives him instructions for

making an
in-person wire transfer.

Only then will they
delete the photo he sent.

And they're pressuring him
and pressuring him.

"Are you going now?

Don't take, don't make me
wait any longer or else."

[Cindy] It's like they
were hounding him

every step of the way.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Oh, my God. That's so...

[Cindy] So he didn't have time
to think it through, you know?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.

And then he sends a
photo of the money, right?

[Cindy] Uh-hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Now he's asking,

"Can you please delete it?

I am a college student and

I don't have that
much right now.

I can't live the next two weeks
with you blackmailing me.

You are ruining my life.
Please."

"You are my slave now."

Jake's blackmailer continues
to taunt and pressure him,

and after dozens of
messages back and forth,

Jake reaches a breaking point.

"I have decided that if the
picture posts, then I will end

my life so I don't have
to go through the pain and

embarrassment as I lose my job,
my education, and family.

I hope when you find out
that I am serious,

that you will feel guilt."

[Cindy] So the next day, he
ended up getting a shotgun and

he took his life, so.

This happened from
Sunday until Friday.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you have
the letter that he...

-Yeah.
-Wrote for you too?

[Cindy] Uh-huh.

It says, "Dear Mom, I love you
so much, and it pains me to

write this.

I am sorry for what I've done.

I have nothing to
live for anymore.

I have made a huge mistake
that I can't live with.

I lost my way and
I couldn't get back.

You were a great mother.
Never doubt that.

I love you dearly, Mom.

You will always be my mother and
I will always be your baby boy.

Love, Jake."

In such a short time,
they destroyed my son.

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's the
most devastating loss

a parent can face.

And Cindy is not alone.

Sextortion is on the rise.

The National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children

says that sextortion is one of

the primary dangers that kids

face online right now.

In 2022 alone, 7,000 reports
were filed with law enforcement

in the US.

And more than a dozen
cases resulted in suicide.

[Reporter] The blackmailers
demanded $3,500 or they'd

spread his provocative
photos around town.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Teenage boys are most at risk.

Experts say they aren't used
to being targeted in this way.

They may be more likely to
take a blackmailer's threats

seriously and more
fearful of asking for help.

[Cindy] He was
just too ashamed.

[Mariana Van Zeller] But Jake
refused to let his blackmailer

have the last word.

Not only did he keep all the
messages, but in his letter to

his mom, he told her exactly
where to find his scammer.

[Cindy] "Look at my phone and
read the messages that are

in the Kik app."

[Mariana Van Zeller] A sender?
Does he have a name here?

[Cindy] Yes.
Abril, Aril.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, here.
First name, Mariz.

[Cindy] Yeah.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Last name Aril, Abril.

[Cindy] I think he left the
information and I believe

he wanted me to be
able to do something.

[Mariana Van Zeller] With the
clues he left behind,

local authorities were able to
trace the money to a small town

in the Philippines.

But the effort stopped there.

After reaching out to
authorities in the Philippines,

the sheriff's office claimed
there was nothing else they

could do because
the perpetrator was

outside their jurisdiction.

[Cindy] And it's
happening over and over.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.

[Cindy] And it just feels
like nothing is being done.

I understand that my son
pulled the trigger,

but they pushed him to do that.

It feels like a murder.

[Mariana Van Zeller] As a
mother of a young teenage boy,

Cindy's story has
really affected me,

and as a journalist,
I want answers.

Who are the scammers pushing
American teens to suicide?

And what can be done
to stop this crime?

[Mariana Van Zeller] I've come
to Manila, the capital of the

Philippines, to try to track
down Jake's blackmailer and

learn more about
this industry.

[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm talking
to Fernando, an investigative

local journalist who's covered
cybercrimes for over a decade.

He wants to remain anonymous

out of fear of the
criminals he reports on.

[Mariana Van Zeller] The
Philippines is a major tech hub

and a hotspot
for cybercrime.

Why is the Philippines
such a center of sextortion?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Right.

Since sextortion scammers
can work from anywhere,

on any device, these criminals
are particularly hard to catch.

[Mariana Van Zeller] One of
the stories we've been following

is an American young man called
Jake who committed suicide.

And the name of the person
that he sent money to here

in the Philippines
is Mariz Abril.

Did you ever hear
about this name?

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's not
a name that's come across

your radar at all?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So where
is the center of this all

in the Philippines?

Where should we be
spending most of our time in?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
North of Manila?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Fernando
directs us to Angeles City.

This city has earned an
international reputation

for sex tourism.

Hundreds of women and girls

are trafficked
into the city each year.

Everywhere I look, I see
Filipino girls with

older white men.

Prostitution may be technically
illegal in this country

but here in Angeles City,

sex tourism is booming
in plain sight.

Typically I'd meet an
underground contact in

a secret location,
but not tonight.

My contact tells me to meet
her at her work and to come in

through the front door.

Wow.

[♪ Filipino music]

[singing in Filipino].

[♪ club music]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.

This is Yumi, a drag performer
who dances at a local gay bar.

But like many in Angeles City,

she turned to scamming
during the pandemic.

After her show, Yumi took me
backstage to share her story.

She tells me she started
a virtual relationship

with a German man.

But when he suggested that
they turn their chat sexual,

Yumi started recording.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
So you had video sex

and you recorded that
sex, that video?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Did
he send you the money?

[Mariana Van Zeller] How
much money did he send you?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Thousand pesos. Okay.

So he ended up giving you
or sending you $3,000?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
The money was easy.

Really easy.

So Yumi started extorting
other men she was

chatting with online.

When people stopped paying
you, did you ever actually

share those videos or photos

with the family
members or friends?

[Yumi] Hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
Do you know a lot of people

that have done this kind of
blackmailing, sextortion?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Hm. Do they
do it like you, by themselves?

[Yumi] No.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Full of
people working on a computer?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yumi is a
lone wolf scammer, someone who

preys upon her own online
contacts to make a few extra

bucks a month.

But what she's describing is
a more ambitious operation,

set up like a legal call center.

A sea of cubicles staffed with
employees whose sole job

is to scam and extort
money from foreigners.

There is a name of a person that
we have been trying to find.

Her name is Mariz Abril.

Have you ever heard of
anyone called Mariz Abril?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yumi says
that she's not involved in

sextortion anymore.

After doing it a few times,

she started feeling
bad for her victims.

We hit a dead end,

until one of Fernando's
inside sources sends us

a lead on a sextortion ring
30 miles north in Bulacan.

[typing]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller] This is
a scammer we'll call Claudia.

Before she got involved in
sextortion, she was earning

$6 a day selling tea towels

while trying to care
for her eight children.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Claudia
was recruited by a friend who

told her she could make 10
times more money in sextortion.

She started working in an
office much like this one.

The only difference was that
Claudia's had armed guards

at the door.

You started chatting
mainly with foreigners?

-Yes.
-Which countries?

[Mariana Van Zeller] How did the
structure inside the group work?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So
there's a supervisor basically

walking and making sure
you're doing your job?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Claudia was
assigned the role of a chatter.

The person who sends
messages to the victim and

records their interactions.

She worked on Facebook and
Instagram, but chatters have

also been known to use
encrypted messaging apps

and dating platforms
like Tinder and Bumble.

After you got them to do the
video, somebody else would

start the blackmailing.

And somebody else
would get the money.

When the victims send the
money, who do they send the

money to, was it to
you or, who was sent to?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Because
of the intimacy of the crime,

I had always imagined that
sextortion scammers work

one-on-one with their victims.

But Claudia is describing a
highly-organized operation.

This means that Jake's
scammer, Mariz Abril,

if that's even her real name,

might have been a part
of a much bigger machine.

There may have been a whole
team of sextortion workers

manipulating him.

Claudia either doesn't know
who the big boss is,

or she doesn't want to tell me.

But I have to know,
who's at the very top?

While these scamming
operations are constantly

in flux and difficult to track,

one person keeps popping
up in our investigation.

[Mariana Van Zeller] She goes
by many names, Maria Cabrera,

Cabreras, Caparas,
Maria Cecilia.

And rumors have it that she
invented the sextortion scam.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Maria grew
up in the slums of Manila,

relying on work in the cyber
porn industry for survival.

At some point, it seems
like Maria decided to

turn the tables.

She started building a
criminal empire that targets

foreign men.

She has been
arrested many times,

once in a high-profile
Interpol-led raid,

but she's always
inexplicably released.

[Mariana] So, our goal here
was to find Mariz Abril,

but there is a chance
that actually we're looking

for the wrong person, and...

[Mariana Van Zeller] And we
should be looking for the head

of the syndicate,
Maria Cabreras,

'cause there is a good chance
that it was part of her

syndicate that did this to Jake.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Wow. That's huge.

I want to work my way up
to the top, to the person

credited with the birth
of this industry,

the same industry
responsible for Jake's death.

Fernando's contact
could be my way in.

Okay, so you're gonna talk to
her and see if she agrees to

talk to us?

[Mariana Van Zeller] What's
the, is it the authorities?

What are they concerned about?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Oh, my God.

So, bruised, their
whole back is bruised.

They were beat?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Oh, my God.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
I think this is it.

We got a call last night
telling us that one of the

scammers he knows has
agreed to speak to us.

It's in this property that
we've been driving now

for a few minutes.

It's supposedly at the end of
this road, there is a house

where this person
is waiting for us.

[♪ unsettling music]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Jamie,
not her real name, is known as

one of the most prolific
scammers in this area.

Have you ever actually went
through with the blackmail and

sent the video to
the family or friends

when they don't pay?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
You have? Really?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Did you
feel bad about doing that?

Maybe you ruined
this person's life?

Do you think about that?

[Host] Philippines.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Before
the pandemic, Jamie says she

earned money competing in
transgender beauty pageants,

popular events in the
Philippines that can be

a path out of poverty.

But those events were
canceled during the pandemic.

And to make matters worse,
trans-women were excluded

from government assistance.

Transphobia in the mainstream
workforce limits career options.

That's why many in Jamie's
community turn to sex work for

survival, but Jamie
discovered another path.

When did you find
out about sextortion?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
We heard a lot about the

Queen of Sextortion,
as she is known,

Maria Cabrera.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
That's her?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Maria
Cabreras is known to recruit

impoverished youth.

She has plucked dozens,
if not hundreds of teens

off the streets.

She taught Jamie and these
other young scammers how to

find victims, how to flirt
with them and how to use

pre-recorded videos ripped
from porn sites to fool them

into thinking they were
interacting with real people.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
How young do they start?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Wow.
That's my son's age.

I can't imagine him, not
only scamming, but also seeing

these videos and these
photos from the victims.

It's so young.

What can happen to you if
Maria finds out you were

talking to us?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Really?
So why are you talking to us?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you
think Maria would talk to us?

[speaking Filipino]

[Mariana Van Zeller] No?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
What's that?

-Be careful?
-Yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] We don't
know for sure if Maria's

syndicate was behind
Jake's sextortion.

The operation is
powerful and elusive,

her scammers hidden
behind fake IDs.

But we do know that the money
Jake wired was traced to a

bank in the region
Maria calls home.

So I'm setting my sights
on the Queen of Sextortion.

The last we heard, Maria was
based in a little town called

North Hills, which she'd
converted into her own

scamming empire.

[crowing]

[snorting]

But before I go to North Hills,

I want to understand
what I'll be walking into.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Peter, not his real name,

is a government official

who asked us not to
disclose his location.

He's witnessed the corruptive
power of the sextortion

industry first-hand.

It took a long time to
convince him to talk to us.

But he finally decided
it was worth the risk.

You don't want
your face shown.

-Dangerous.
-Uh-hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Wow. That's
a really strong accusation.

Corruption in the Philippines
has spiked in recent years.

Dirty money has made its
way into politics, elections.

And even the judicial system.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, so
this is as dangerous a time as

any to go and look
for her, I guess?

[Peter] Uh-hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller] What
advice do you have for us?

-To us.
-Uh-hmm.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.

Starting to think that maybe

this is not a great
idea after all.

We're in the thick of it now.

[grinding]

[sizzling]

[honking]

[Mariana Van Zeller] We're
gonna start getting people

looking at us because,
you know, this isn't a very

touristy area and they
definitely don't see people

with cameras coming here.

Underneath the veneer of quiet
village life, North Hills

hides a checkered
history of corruption.

Maria Cabreras, the
Queen of Sextortion,

based her operation here.

And we have reason to believe
she's still in the game.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Maria's
social media accounts are

filled with pictures
of her hanging out

with local politicians.

She apparently owns a gym and
a youth center, which we hear

she's used as a hunting
ground for new recruits.

It's here.

Our local producer suggests we
keep the cameras in the car,

as they would attract
too much attention.

I'm a little anxious just
because of all the warnings

and people who told
us we shouldn't come,

but I'm hoping we'll find
someone to talk to.

Yeah, and I think
this is it, guys.

We're in the thick of it now.

Hi. Can I ask you a question?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yes. Okay,
Fred, maybe put the camera down.

Hi.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Maria Cabrera.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay. Okay.

You can put the
cameras back up.

Well, this is
like the mayorship?

Oh, it's like the city hall?
Okay.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.
So this is like the city hall?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Small city hall. Okay.

And they can help me, maybe?

[Mariana Van Zeller] They
have the records, okay.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Let's
see what happens.

Thank you.

[♪ distorted music]

[knocking]

Hi, Mariana.
My name's Mariana.

Inside the city hall,
I meet two women.

We're looking for somebody that
I think lives in this region?

Her name is Maria Cabreras?

Maria Cecilia Cabrera?

She doesn't live here anymore?

The women tell me that
Maria no longer lives in

North Hills, but
her sister does.

The sister lives here?

Do you know where
the sister lives?

After a bit of back and forth,

they agreed to help
us track her sister down.

Okay. The sister of Cabrera.

Okay. Great!

And if you could accompany
us, that would be great.

Just as it seemed like we were
about to catch a big break,

one of the women decides
to make a phone call,

and everything changes.

Okay.

[honking]

I think, uh, Dan, who is
our local producer,

was just talking to them.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, so
they wanna figure out what

we're doing here?

-Yes.
-The local police is coming?

-They're alarmed.
-Yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Should we be worried?

[Mariana] Oh, they're not gonna
allow us to film anymore.

[Mariana] So you don't think we
can go and talk to the sister?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Or they
can kick us out, okay.

Thank you, Dan.

Yeah. So, he says the
people here are alarmed.

They've called.
They've seen the cameras.

They've seen our car with a
bunch of foreigners driving

around and they're
coming to ask us questions.

He thinks they're gonna shut
down our filming immediately

and they're ask, they're
gonna ask us to leave town.

What's happening, Dan?
What's happening?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Hi, how are you? Mariana.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay.
So who is this lady? Sorry.

[speaking Filipino].

-Volunteer security?
-Yes.

[Mariana Van Zeller] We just
want to see if we can find

Maria Cabreras or her sister.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, the
leader called you and said

that we had to leave?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Can
somebody show us where

Maria Cabrera's sister lives?

[speaking Filipino].

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Without cameras, nothing.

[speaking Filipino]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Why?

[speaking Filipino]

[Mariana Van Zeller] You don't
want to show us.

[Mariana Van Zeller] To leave?
Okay. So they're...

[speaking Filipino]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay,
thank you. Thank you.

Our presence here is
clearly raising alarms,

and our local producer
is getting nervous.

Yeah. Okay.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
We need to go?

[Mariana They're telling you
that we have to leave right now.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you
wanna get back in the car?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Nobody
wants us here essentially.

Yeah. The idea is
nobody wants us here.

As a journalist,

the worst feeling is
being forced to turn away.

I've become so invested in
this story and I feel like

I owe it to Cindy, to Jake's
mother, to uncover as much as

I can about the
sextortion industry.

But these scammers seem to
be operating with impunity.

Hello.

So I'm surprised when my local
producer tells me about a

person who's actually being
held in a jail nearby

for crimes related
to sextortion.

Hello.

And he's willing
to talk to us.

[clapping]

This jail houses
all types of criminals

and is massively overcrowded.

I'm introduced to a young
man we'll call Diego,

who shares a cell with over
a dozen other inmates.

How old are you?

[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm
struck by the fact that Diego

is only a few years
older than Jake was

when he took his own life.

So was it men you scammed?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Women?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, that's
the first time we heard that.

Diego was arrested for
sextorting Filipino women

on dating apps for
small amounts of money.

But now he admits to crimes
he's never been charged for.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Like which countries?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Diego
says he was never recruited to

work for Maria Cabreras,

but at some point, he
says he upped his game,

adopting her
syndicate's methods.

We spent time in the United
States with families who lost

their sons because they
committed suicide

because of sextortion.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
You never heard this?

No one ever said, "I'm going
to kill myself if you continue

asking me for money,
blackmailing me?"

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Did they kill themselves?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
They died?

[Mariana Van Zeller] How did
you find out he killed himself?

[Mariana] Oh, that's horrible.
And you saw it happening?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
What did you say?

Didn't you ask him to stop?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Oh, my God. That is horrible.

How much money were you
trying to get from him?

[Mariana Van Zeller] $1,000?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So why do
you think he committed suicide?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So if he
was begging you to stop,

why didn't you stop?

[Mariana Van Zeller]
No, you did not!

So you said, you said,
"Just do it, I don't care."?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Why?

[Mariana Van Zeller] So you
thought he was lying,

just bluffing because others
had said the same thing?

[Mariana Van Zeller] But
nobody had actually done it?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Nobody
had actually, are you sure

nobody else did it?

[Mariana Van Zeller] We spent
time with mothers of kids

who committed suicide.

And seeing their pain
and seeing them cry,

sorry I'm gonna get emotional.

But it's very, very hard to
know that this is happening.

And to now be with you here
and seeing somebody who

in many ways was
responsible for somebody,

for somebody's death, right?

Do you know that he
committed suicide because of

what you did to him?

[Mariana Van Zeller] Hearing
Diego admit to driving a

person to suicide makes it
hard to believe that this

crime is not the
reason he's in jail.

Transnational scams
are hard to prosecute.

And Filipino authorities seem
more concerned with crimes

committed against
locals than foreigners.

I don't know whether
Maria Cabreras still lives

in North Hills, but her
legacy is very much alive,

in the corruptive
power of her syndicate

and the ruthless
playbook she created.

Combating sextortion
requires updated legislation,

significant resources, and
collaboration between

law enforcement
agencies around the world.

But these things rarely happen,
so these crimes continue.

As does the pain they cause.

[wind chimes tinkling]

[Brandon Guffey] It sounded
like a bowling ball coming down

from a top shelf.

I ran in there and
yelled his name.

He didn't answer, so I
immediately just shouldered

the door in.

I'm yelling to call 911 to my
wife, but as I put my hand on

his artery, I could just feel,
it felt like a hose pipe, the

blood was leaving
very, very quickly.

And I just sat there holding
him until I couldn't feel the

blood coming out anymore.

[Mariana Van Zeller] On July
27th, 2022, Brandon Guffey's

17-year-old son, Gavin, ended
his life after falling victim

to sextortion by someone
pretending to be a college girl

from a few towns over.

[Brandon Guffey] After
everything happened with Gavin,

I was in such a dark place.

I wanted to
resign from the House.

My wife's like,
"Absolutely not.

You're one of the few people
that can make a change."

[Mariana Van Zeller] Guffey
is a delegate in the

South Carolina
House of Representatives.

[Brandon Guffey] Today we
will be debating Gavin's bill

on the floor.

[Mariana Van Zeller] And he
has a plan to bring awareness

and justice to
victims of sextortion.

[Brandon Guffey] I lost the
battle for Gavin, but if I can

save these other teens, then
that's what's most important.

[House Speaker] No questions.

Mr. Guffey is next
to speak on a bill.

Mr. Guffey is recognized.

[chatter]

[Representative] I'd
like to request a debate.

[Brandon Guffey] Will I
be able to speak on it?

-Yeah. Yeah.
-Okay.

I just wanna make sure.
Thank you.

[Mariana Van Zeller] When you
talk to people, do they even

know what sextortion is?

[Brandon Guffey] It's
still not out there enough.

And it doesn't really make
the news, and no one's truly

explaining how
dangerous it is.

And as a parent, you hear
something like that and you

think that, "Well,
that won't happen to me.

You know, my kid's
smarter than that."

But, yeah, I still get
messages every single day

from somebody that's being
extorted asking for advice.

[Mariana Van Zeller]
Every single day?

[Brandon Guffey]
Every single day.

[Mariana Van Zeller] In
response to his son's death,

Representative Brandon Guffey is
now trying to put the dangers

of sextortion on the agenda
with a bill proposal that

would increase the maximum
sentence for a perpetrator

in South Carolina to 20 years.

[Representative]
Whenever you're ready though.

[Mariana Van Zeller] He named
it Gavin's Law, after his son.

[Brandon Guffey] The primary
purpose of this is to raise

awareness, because most of the
perpetrators are not coming

out of the state
of South Carolina.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.

[Brandon Guffey] So it's really
to open up the conversation

with parents and teens alike
and bring that awareness

for them to have that
hard conversation.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Even
though the bill is limited to

South Carolina, Representative
Guffey hopes it will inspire a

wave of similar bills
across the country,

eventually making
it federal law.

[Boy] I have one
on my backpack.

[Brandon Guffey] But we're
gonna put it on your shirt.

[Mariana Van Zeller] It's the
day his bill is up for a vote

and his family joins him on
the floor of the state house.

[House Speaker] No questions.

Mr. Guffey is next
to speak on a bill.

Mr. Guffey is recognized.

[Brandon Guffey] Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I haven't even said a
word and I'm tearing up.

Most of my fellow House
Members are aware of the

importance of this bill to me.

Nine months ago tomorrow,

I lost my 17-year-old
son to suicide.

And it was due to extorting.

This is not just a
problem in South Carolina.

This is not just a
problem in the United States.

This is a problem globally.

Our laws do not move fast
enough to keep up,

to punish those that
are responsible.

I would like to read the names
of the kids that just since my

son have taken their lives
as well, because we're not

getting the
message out enough.

You've got Carter Bremseth,
forever 16, from Minnesota.

You've got Brayden Markus,
forever 15, from Ohio.

Waylon Scheffer, from
Montana, forever 16.

James Woods,
forever 17, in Ohio.

And Walker Montgomery,

forever 16, out of
Starkville, Mississippi.

And Landen Edward-Todd
Weigelt, from Wisconsin,

forever 17.

And my son, Gavin Timothy
Guffey, who's forever 17.

So, I urge you guys to pass
it and I thank you for all of

your support.

[applause]

[House Speaker]
By a vote of 113-0

House Bill 3583
has been approved.

Congratulations, Mr. Guffey.

[applause]

[Mariana Van Zeller] Gavin's
Law was passed unanimously and

signed into law
in August of 2023.

[Brandon Guffey] Yeah.
I'm proud of it.

[Mariana Van Zeller] A small
but important step in the

fight against this
predatory new crime.

[Brandon Guffey] Thank you.

[Mariana Van Zeller] But we
still have a long way to go.

I've see the roots
of this black market.

I know how it flourishes
in the dark legacies of

sex tourism and discrimination.

Crime bosses see a workforce
in the impoverished and

marginalized, a revenue stream
in the desperation of youth.

There are no easy answers.

No quick fixes.

But if my experience as a
journalist and a mother has

taught me anything, it's that
our best defense is awareness

and communication.

[Cindy] My life has been
devastated losing my son.

I miss him so much.

But maybe Jake's story
can make them realize.

[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.

[Cindy] It's,
it's just a picture.

Talk to your kids.

There are so many people that
have been affected from this.

Captioned by
Cotter Media Group.