Lured Away - How to Protect your Child in Today's World.

Kidnapping, Running away and being Lured Away are different ways children go missing. Let's find some solutions to keep children safe.

Please join us for this important community meeting on 02/25/2020. This event is great for middle and high school students as well as we will discuss Luring in todays schools and social media and try to find some solutions to keep children safe.

What is Luring? Luring is an organized crime where human traffickers hire the services of multiple entities of people to entice vulnerable children to run away from homes and right into the world of human/sex trafficking.

Why is it a Crime? Kidnapping a child is illegal. When a child runs away however, it is not illegal and very often law enforcement is limited on their resources to help. Human Traffickers are using this loophole to entice or lure children away from their homes under the guise of them being classified as a runaway even when/if they are being held against their will at that time.

Who is involved? Human/sex traffickers sell boys and girls to people willing to pay for their services. To obtain targets, human traffickers find Target Finders and Target Groomers in multiple locations. Target Finders often hire Target Groomers to build closer relationships with Targets.

Target Groomers are often the same age, might attend the same schools or are in similar social settings are their Targets. Target Groomers usually have plenty of Targets they are working “on” and many Targets see them as boyfriends/girlfriends, friends or peers.

Where does Luring occur?

Social Media: Luring often begins with the “friending” of the Target on social media by Target Groomers. They often give plenty of praise, adoration and gratitude to the Target in hopes of gaining their relationship and trust.

Schools: Target Groomers can often pose as friends or peers in schools. They are paid by Target Finders (who are paid by Human Traffickers) to find vulnerable Targets and groom them accordingly.

How can we prevent children from being Lured? By finding the criminal activities in the Lured loophole and closing them, Human Traffickers, Target Finders and Target Groomers can be held accountable for luring children to run away just as they would if they kidnapped the child.

What do we need to do? Aside from a child being lured away from home and classified as a runaway, another legal loophole in luring for example is age. Target Groomers are often the same age as the Targets and it is not illegal to be in a relationship with someone who is your age. This protects Target Groomers because even though they are being paid to entice the Target into a relationship with them, it is not classified as statutory rape.

There are many other legal entanglements that make luring difficult to classify as a crime even though it is a very well organized criminal activity. We need to build a coalition of politicians, lawyers, parents and other interested groups to band together to close the legal loopholes and make Luring a Crime.