"Virtual" Victims, Part One: Targeting & Trapping
By Marissa Brownell, Care Coordinator – Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Minors Specialist
This is the first part of a two-part blog series describing predators use of the internet to both identify and traffic victims. Below is a true account from an End Slavery Tennessee client that paints an accurate picture of how adolescent and child victims are targeted online and then exploited using apps and websites.
Both traffickers and victims represent all demographics, socioeconomic status, ethnicities, genders and races. For the purpose of this blog series, ESTN uses the pronoun he and him when referring to the “trafficker” or “predator” and she or her when referencing the “victim.”
Tiffany’s Story
14-year-old Tiffany* recently moved from out of state to a small town in Tennessee because of recent traumatic events in her life. It was a huge change for her. The people were different. There was nothing near her within walking distance. She did not have friends and felt out of place at school. She was depressed, lonely and bored, so she decided to visit some social media apps to try to find some like-minded people.
After a while, she started chatting with a girl named Lisa* online that seemed a lot like her, except she was a little older. They had a lot in common and she didn’t live too far away. After about a week of chatting, Lisa said her boyfriend, Chris*, had a car and they could come pick her up to hang out. Tiffany ended up sneaking out to hang out with them and she had a great time! She snuck out a few more times to be with them, and one night they suggested she join them for a road trip. She was a bit nervous, but she was bored at home and felt like she needed an escape, so she agreed...
At first, they were having a great time, but within a day or two Chris complained he was running out of money, and she needed to help contribute to the trip. Tiffany didn’t have any money, so Chris suggested that she have sex with someone to earn some quick money for them. Lisa said she would do it too and that it wasn’t a big deal. Tiffany was scared and really didn’t want to agree, but she was stuck in a different state, did not have money or a car to leave and did not know what to do. Chris kept pressuring her, saying he paid for the gas, food and motel and that she owed him. He ended up bringing a man to their motel room and told her if she had sex with him, they could get $300. She felt backed into a corner and afraid of what might happen if she refused, so she did it… (Tiffany’s Story continues in part two of this series)
Virtual Victims
Since the topic of child trafficking has been gaining more attention in the news and movies, commonly people may picture the Sex Trafficking of minors as a child who is kidnapped off the street and forced into prostitution. This is rarely the case. More and more frequently predators and pimps are using the virtual world to easily access, prey upon and then quickly sell their victims. Hiding behind a smartphone or computer benefits traffickers two-fold:
They can use online platforms to effortlessly find their victims.
They can turn around and use the internet again to instantly sell their victim.
In this two-part series we will first be covering how predators target and ensnare victims.
Finding Victims Online
Right now, it is incredibly easy for predators to gain access to youth through the internet using social media, dating sites, apps, chatrooms and webcams. Most young people use these sites for entertainment, acceptance and attention, never thinking that it could lead to unsafe situations. However, more and more traffickers and pedophiles are greatly benefitting from children’s naiveté and their lack of supervision and understanding of the risks these apps and websites pose.
Who is at risk? Anyone who is active on social media, messaging apps, chatrooms or webcam sites may be at risk. However, predators have learned what type of victims are most susceptible to their tactics. They generally look for targets with multiple vulnerabilities and victims who are considered low risk, meaning the child is not monitored by adults and/or surrounded with a healthy support system and that lack of supervision and intervention means there is less of a chance that the predator will be stopped or caught.
Some factors that make youth especially vulnerable:
an unstable home life and/or little adult supervision
depression, low self-esteem, loneliness
having experienced abuse (sexual, physical, or emotional)
in need of love and attention
being in foster care or a group home
frequently running away
identifying as LGBTQ+
How do traffickers learn about these vulnerabilities? Now it is easier than ever to learn personal information because adolescents and teens often lack discretion and reveal intimate details about their lives without giving it a second thought.
Simple posts like “Ugh I hate my mom, I swear Imma run,” “I’m so ugly and no one thinks I’m beautiful,” or “Lonely tonight-who wants to chat?” are open invitations for predators to spot a vulnerable youth and strike up a conversation. Of course, when seeking victims, they don’t appear as predators, but often will present themselves as a peer using a fake profile picture and information.
They take their time building trust, chatting with them for weeks or months and they appeal to the vulnerabilities of the victim. If someone has low self-esteem, they complement them. If they are lonely, the trafficker makes themselves readily available to talk or text whenever needed. If the youth has been abused or has a bad home life, the predator empathizes and relates. If a child wants out of their current situation, the trafficker offers a way out. If a kid is living in poverty, they offer to buy them nice things. The predator spots the weakness and the need and then uses it to gain trust and to manipulate the victim.
The video below, based on true accounts, is an excellent example of a vulnerable youth preyed upon by a trafficker on social media. When we use this example in outreach groups to at-risk youth, I ask them to raise their hands if any of them has had a similar conversation online and met up with a stranger in person. Nearly ALL of them raise their hands.
As you can see, trafficker/victim relationships are fueled by having a need met (love, an escape, companionship or shelter) and then manipulating the victim based on that need. One of the most common needs vulnerable youth (and most people) have is the desire to feel loved. Often traffickers will groom a victim to believing they are being romanced. Sadly, many minors express that when they met their trafficker, it was the first time they had ever felt loved or cared for.
Predators are master manipulators who are highly skilled in engineering “romantic relationships” with flattery, attention, time and gifts. It may be the first time a child has heard the words “I love you” or been told that they were beautiful or desired. Even the perception of love and romance for a short period of time can be enough of a hook for the predators to manipulate and control vulnerable youth. Other times a trafficker offers friendship, a fatherly-like protection or the means to provide an escape from a bad home life.
Once a victim has been manipulated and groomed by a trafficker virtually, then he will try to meet with them in-person. Often, they will swear their victim to secrecy about their relationship so that no one else will question the relationship they have formed or possibly thwart their plans. After a victim meets with the perpetrator, the relationship typically becomes physical. Sometimes the predator coerces the victim to run away with him, saying that he will provide a better life. Once they leave with him, their plan to exploit them usually unfolds quickly.
Other times they continue their manipulation by treating them as if they are in a romantic relationship, taking them on dates and sometimes meeting their friends and family. We have seen victims in a “normal romantic relationship” with a trafficker a year or more before he mentioned her being sold for sex. Predators may slowly manipulate their victims over time so that a bond is built. This is his “investment” for a long lasting “return.” Eventually the trafficker flips the script and tells the victim that they must do something for him if they love him or that they now “owe” him because he provided them with something of worth, shelter, food, clothes, etc.
Another element of manipulation that predators frequently use is trapping. They may coerce their victims to send nude photos or videos which they will later use against them. They may get passwords to their victims’ social media and email accounts and find out as much personal information about a victim and their loved ones as possible. Then they use these details to threaten them. Common tactics traffickers use to coerce victims include threats to harm a loved one or post their explicit photos or videos...
In the second part of this blog series, we will cover how victims are sold online, the most common apps and websites traffickers use, and what you can do to educate and protect your kids.
Is your child safe online?
Related Article
Homeland Security: Human Traffickers Continue to Use Popular Online Platforms to Recruit Victims, March 17, 2020