My son is going down dark paths online and I don't know how to help.
So my son is 16 and I've done my best as a pretty conservative dad to be supportive of his... alternative life choices. He came out to my wife and I as gay a year and a half ago ish, also that he is a furry. Now I don't believe in ostracizing or judement on stuff like this, despite my worldviews, we made sure he knew we loved him, we aren't gonna treat him differently or anything like that.
My concern now though is he's been talking to this person online, someone who lives in Bulgaria and claims to be of same age. They're throwing around the lovey dovey talk in text, which I guess isn't a big deal but what set off alarms for me was this person claimed to have gone onto grindr looking for... that stuff. He ended up being SA'd by a 35 year old male he met that way and has been telling my son all about it. Now my son wants to go to Bulgaria to 'see his friend' and I'm kinda at a loss. Im not even sure this person is real, could easily be a predator or something. I dont want to restrict my son's ability to communicate but its genuinely affecting his mental health. He's constantly stopping what he's doing to message this person back, like obsessively so, and clearly stressed about the content of conversation.
He tells me hes trying to convince this person not to make more bad choices but I think he's being manipulated.
How do I reach my son without destroying our trust and confidence?