I don't know if I misinterpreted your statement; however, child trafficking is not a myth. <modsnip> It is unfortunately big business with some children from the poorest countries being the victims.
Nobody's saying
trafficking is a myth. This scenario is just not how trafficking occurs, period. I'll post this link once again because I think it's very important for people to know what human trafficking looks like.
It does happen. <modsnip> We live in Texas, and I was shocked to read about the teenager abducted from the Mavericks' game at a crowded stadium. The parents are the ones who found their daughter, not the police!! So, if it can happen at a crowded stadium, I'd say that it can happen anywhere.
The way you're describing trafficking is aligned with the hysteria-driven, falsified, social media version of it. I hope my link is helpful and educational for you.
“People think trafficking is like the movie TAKEN, where the victim is tied up and duct taped and put in the back of a van, driven to a remote location and beaten and raped. Almost always they start out as online love relationships. Runaways are the second most common trafficking victims – in today’s social media age most kids aren’t running away just blindly, they are running TO something.”
At Child Rescue Coalition, we often talk about
how predators groom children through online platforms, and familiarity is one of the main ways trafficking begins. Jim Cole described a cycle of a child meeting someone online, falling in love, being groomed, creating dependency, trafficking occurring, all while blind loyalty to the trafficker remains intact.
Victims believe that police are the enemy because unlike in the movies, traffickers are not always mean, cruel or scary, they are people the victim loves and become dependent upon. Unfortunately, in today’s digital age, it’s almost too easy for traffickers to isolate and traffic children.
Regarding the story you linked:
Kyle Morris and his daughter went to a Mavs game, like they had many times before. Just before halftime, she went to the restroom. That was the last time her father saw her that night.
www.cbsnews.com
It is very rare for them to grab some random person at an event. Kidnappers do this, yes, but not sex traffickers. Traffickers are more likely to groom and befriend a victim, entice them with gifts, money, promises of a new life, or romance.
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They said surveillance video also showed two men walking and talking with their daughter. Brooke Morris said the girl was lured out of the building under false pretenses. "It was along the lines of, let's hang out for the rest of the game until it ends, then you can go back up to your dad."
The Morrises said other surveillance cameras captured the trio walking into a parking garage. They said several minutes passed before they came back out, with video showing a noticeable change in their daughter. "Her sweatshirt was gone, her body language was very closed off," said Kyle. They say their daughter was raped while in the garage.
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This was a very high-risk and unusual scenario, especially since there were obvious surveillance cameras at this location. This guy is either sloppy and new to the business, or just got cocky with his business. Two sure ways for a trafficker to meet their downfall. I feel horrible for this poor girl. Generally, trafficking is a very organized crime syndicate. This guy could've been a small time pimp/wannabe trafficker, instead of a genuine trafficker, I'm unsure. Can't tell if he was working with others besides the one other guy, from what I read of the article.
Regardless, I have never ever seen or heard of a human trafficker using a child to lure someone on the side of the interstate. That is farfetched and outside the realm of their behavior. A sports game makes more sense than that, and even that sort of pick-up is extremely rare since it's so risky.
Traffickers generally go after kids who are often unsupervised online, and "won't be missed" in their opinions, AKA kids who are minorities/parents are in addiction/kids looking for love/families don't have money, etc. They don't want the families and police to care enough to
really try and find them, they won't go after rich kids or 25 year old women who have families with resources. The younger the kids, the more they can brainwash them/shape & mold them into a "good worker".
All of that's devastating and it's hard to even type it, but that's facts.