Many parents are clueless as to how human trafficking works. In their minds, that is a crime that happens to other families and would NEVER happen to their child. But in reality, the number of human trafficking victims are increasing, and the tactics used to lure young girls and boys into this world are becoming more organized and complex. Here are just a few of the common tactics these predators of the underworld use to prey on the innocent.
- Kidnapping - is probably the first tactic that comes to every one's mind. In this scenario, the trafficker kidnaps the victim from a public location like walking to and from their car, school, mall or work place. Some even follow their target home and kidnap them from there. The kidnappers are usually armed, quick and violent.
- Boyfriending - is when a man pretends to like a young woman and grooms her to gain her trust by eventually becoming her boyfriend. The young woman will drop her guard because she believes the man truly loves her and has her best interest at heart. He targets her vulnerabilities by telling her she is beautiful, smart, one of a kind or supplies her with money, jewelry, cars or a lavish place to stay. If she comes from a family who couldn't afford these types of material things, she may grow to covet these items and feel she can't leave him for fear of losing access to these luxuries. Young women seem to be especially vulnerable to this tactic.
- Blind dates - Young women should be wary of blind dates. When meeting someone for the first time, they should meet in a public place, make others aware of who and where they are meeting, and spend some time perhaps meeting publicly several times and invest time talking to them extensively before allowing the 'blind date' to know where they live or inviting them to come over.
- Drugging at social events - This commonly occurs at night clubs, bars and on college campuses. A person may go to a party or event and a trafficker could be there looking for new victims. The trafficker could be a man or woman. They target an unsuspecting victim, start talking to them and manage to slip a drug in their drink. Once the drug kicks in, the victim appears overly drunk and the 'good Samaritan' offers to help them home. Instead, the victim awakens to threats of violence if they don't prostitute for the predator, and/or is whisked off to unknown locations into the trafficking pipeline.
- Befriending - Here's an example. A young girl works at a kiosk in the mall. Then, a young shopper comes up pretending to shop and strikes up a friendly conversation with her. The supposed 'shopper' may come several times over the course of days and weeks, and eventually exchanges numbers so they can meet outside of work. What the young girl doesn't realize is the 'new friend' is working under the direction and watchful eye of a trafficker, who may be controlling her through threats and/or violence. The young girl, thinking she has a 'new friend', agrees to meet the other girl outside of work where she is then abducted, or they learn her schedule and grab her on her way to her car in the garage after work. Another example involves younger children. A trafficker or even a family member may make a young child befriend another young child and entice them to be friends by offering toys, expensive clothing or money. Once the child is comfortable around the other child and family, they too can be shuttled into the trafficking pipeline.
- Social media and online ads - are a very common place to find traffickers trolling for victims. They befriend unsuspecting people through social media and establish a friendship which causes the other person to drop their guard. Or they advertise the need for roommates and gradually gain the person's trust. In either case, everyone has to be extra vigilant when dealing with 'new friends' online, in person and when considering moving in with strangers.
The bottom line is human traffickers are unscrupulous, and will use whatever means is necessary to target and secure a victim. In this day and age, it is safer to be vary when dealing with that eager 'new friend' and be aware of your surroundings at all times day or night.
As parents, one of the most loving things you can do for your child is to equip them with the tools and information they will need to stay safe. As much as we want our children to enjoy a childhood free of scary things and people, if we fail to prepare them for the dangers of this ever-changing world, then we must be prepared to fail them when we don't.
