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2.0 Deception



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Human Trafficking Training
Lesson Two: Deception


"I had many games to cop a girl. I would tell them

I was an agent. I would say I designed clothes. I even told

them I sang with certain bands and managed different people.

It was more challenging when I got girls who were older.

I really became more creative the older the girls were. "



What is Deception?


The Use of Deception

Deception is the use of fraud to lure a potential victim into the world of trafficking. The most disarming deception tactic is the most simple: being nice.


What does “Being Nice” Look Like? A stranger who for no reason "does something" for a teen. A stranger helps a teen with something. Being nice is form of manipulation, "Come-on, I helped you...."  creates social debt. A stranger makes an Incredible Offer to a teen. When a stranger is being nice, it makes it hard to tell him or her, "I'm not interested,"  "I'm busy,"  or even "No thank you." A stranger being nice is still a stranger. As discussed “earlier, Predators aren't always men. They can be couples, women & teens, and fellow students.



How a Trafficker Implements Deception

Grab n go' does still happen. However, for most youths, this is not the case. Instead traffickers

use skillful deception to to get youth to go willingly with them.


The most commonly used deception tactic by traffickers is to simply be nice.Traffickers who are strangers will often initiate a conversation between themselves and their intended victim. Traffickers will often lie about who they are in order to lure in their victims. They may claim to be a modeling agent, a talent agent or a member of a band. Traffickers are well trained in telling youths what they want to hear and knowing how to get them to do what they want. By creating a fake persona, they are able to lure victims into meeting them at places where no people or adults are present. Without the threat of trusted adults around minors, traffickers are more easily able to manipulate and coerce young people into following them to different places.


They will reach out to their victim by being overly nice and overly friendly. Traffickers will make their victims an offer that is often too good to be true. They will do their best to try and get their victim to travel with them to a different location perhaps by offering to take them on a trip out of town. In an interview conducted by De Paul College of Law, From Victim to Victimizer one trafficker stated:


“I had many games to cop a girl. I would tell them I was an agent. I would say I designed clothes. I even told them I sang with certain bands and managed different people. It was more challenging when I got girls who were older. I really became more creative the older the girls were.”




Sex Offender Posed as Modeling Agent to Lure Girls into Sex Trade


In Orlando, FL, a 27 year old man and his teenage girlfriend lured girls into their trafficking ring. The man carried around business cards claiming that he owned a modeling agency. But instead of directly reaching out to girls - he would drop his business cards near young girls. When they picked up the business card, he told them to keep it. Many girls fell for this and called his "agency" - only to come face to face with a much harsher reality.

The man had an apartments in North Carolina and Orlando, FL, less than two miles from Universal Studios. A SWAT team invaded the apartment in Florida and rescued four girls, all of whom were forced to sleep on the same bed when they weren't forced into performing sexual acts for other men. Not only did they force them to work in their sex trade, they were forced to clean, cook and wash their clothes as well.

Source: No longer available FYP Article



Because the trafficker is skillful in manipulating their intended victim, it is often hard for the victim to say no. Traffickers will come across as someone who is a friend and someone who cares and because of this unsuspecting victims often go willingly and naively with people that they think they can trust. Victims may not take the time to ask themselves why is this person reaching out to me? They are quite skillful at knowing just what to say to eliminate any suspicion or fear from their victims. Sadly, most victims willingly and naively go with their trafficker before they realize they are trapped.



Excerpt from "The Gift of Fear"

Recently I was able to see all the predator strategies in a  single conversation.  I was on a flight from Chicago to Los Angeles and seated next to a teenage girl who was traveling alone.

A man in his forties who had been watching her from across the aisle took off his headphones he was wearing and said with a party like flair, “these things just don’t get loud enough for me!”   He then put out his hand and said “I’m Billy.”  While most would not see that as a question, it was.She responded by saying exactly what he was asking.  She told him her full name.  Then, she put out her hand, which he held for just a little bit too long.  In the conversation which followed, he never asked a question, but it resulted in her providing a lot of information.


He said,  “I hate landing in a city and not knowing if anyone is meeting me.”  She answered, “I have no idea how I’m getting to the house I am staying.” Billy asked another question, “Friends can really let you down sometimes.”  She responded with,  “The people I am staying with (hint not her family) are actually expecting me on a later flight.” Billy then said,  “I love the independence of arriving in a city and nobody knows that I am coming.”  Which is the virtual opposite of what he said at first, when he said he hates not knowing if someone will be meeting him.  But he added,  “you’re probably not that independent.”   She quickly volunteered that she had been traveling alone since she was thirteen.


“You sound like a woman I know in Europe, more like a woman than a teenager,”  he said as he handed her his drink (a scotch)  which the flight attendant just handed him.  “you sound like you play by your own rules.” I had hoped she would decline the drink, and she did at first, but he persisted,  “come on, you can do what ever  you want.”  She then took a sip of the drink. I looked at Billy, at his muscular build, at the old tattoo showing at the top of his wrist, and the cheap jewelry.   I had noticed he was drinking on the earlier flight and had no carry on luggage.  I looked at his new cowboy boots, new denim pants,  and leather jacket. I knew he had been recently in jail.  He noticed me and responded “How you doing this morning pal?  Gettin out of Chicago?”   I just nodded. As Billy got up to go to the bathroom, he put one more piece of bait into his trap.  Leaning close into the the girl, he gave her a slow smile and said, “your eyes are awesome.”


In period of just a few minutes, I watched Billy use just about all the predatory tactics.  

·         He established they we both in the same boat, neither had someone to pick them up at the airport.

         Giving them something in common.

·         He provided too many details, like the headphones not getting loud enough and the woman from

         Europe, arriving in cities with no one expecting him.

·         He offered her something she  couldn’t get herself,  the scotch], making her feel like she now owes him.

·         used charm, when he complimented her eyes

·         pressured her to reject that she is still a kid,  when he said “your probably not that independent”

·         he discounted her “no” when she declined the drink, by persisting


When Billy walked away, I asked her if I could talk to her for a moment, and she hesitantly said yes.  It speaks volumes to the power of predatory strategies.  You see she was glad to speak with Billy, but weary of speaking to me, who was asking for permission to talk to her.  “He’s going to offer you a ride from the airport”, I told her, “and he is not a good guy.” I saw Billy again at the luggage claim as he approached the girl.  Though I couldn’t hear them, the conversation was apparent.  She was shaking her head and saying no, and he was not accepting it.  She held firm, and he finally walked off with an angry gesture.  He was no longer the nice guy he’d been up until then. There was no movie on this flight, but Billy let me watch a classic performance of what predators call “The Interview”  Today’s performance featured a forty year old man and a 15 year old girl.

.




Peer fear: Deception in the form of Peers


What is Peer fear?

Stranger Danger is now becoming what is known as “Peer Fear." Peer Fear is peers (youths) who act as predators within schools and other various youth locations. They will often pose as a friend or confidant to their target and once they have gained their trust will try and lure them into trafficking. Most often they themselves are being trafficked and are forced or threatened by their trafficker to bring in new victims.


Slowly they will introduce their target to the world of trafficking making it appear as if it the lifestyle is glamorous by saying things like they have all the money they want, they don’t have a curfew, and basically they get to do whatever they want whenever they want.


(Source)



Example of Peer Fear

In San Antonio, a Real example was of a middle school child being approached by a fellow student to be recruited into trafficking. Both were girls. One of the girls was already being trafficked and was being coerced to recruit other girls on the school campus. This happened in San Antonio, but is happening everywhere now. Unsuspecting victims often go willingly and naively with people they think they can trust.



Untold Number of Girls Trafficked in Truck Stops Across America

One high school sophomore, Kate*, was asked by a popular boy in her class if she wanted to take a day trip to Oklahoma City. The innocent day trip turned into Kate's nightmare when the boy brought Kate to a truck stop where his father was. His father, a trafficker, then said[...]

"I'm a pimp, and you're my 'ho and you're going to make me money." Kate was terrified, and did what he said, because of the violent threats her pimp made if she tried to run away.

Source:Not listed; Truckers Against Trafficking mentioned in article FYP Article






VIDEOS

Video Name: Teenage Girls Sold As Sex Slaves - FOX 11 News Investigation

Time: 4:06-4:31

Summary: Girl gets trapped in trafficking after answering an ad to be a model

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwRjzbHk4aY





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