Trafficking in Holiday Traffic

by Linda Manson The Thanksgiving rush? I’ll be home for Christmas? The busiest travel days of the year occur during the holiday season. Shepherding the kids, hurrying to flights, not forgetting possessions at TSA checkpoints—it’s easy to ignore your surroundings. However, someone in the same crowd might quietly truly hope you notice them. Human trafficking is the fastest-growing and second-largest criminal industry in the …

Pop-up Brothels and Airbnb: A Disturbing Human Trafficking Trend

By Marilyn Ardis Airbnb is a popular online platform that allows property owners seeking to rent space to connect with potential guests. The company, valued at $31 billion in September of 2017, makes its money by charging service fees to the hosts and guests who use its rental booking site. This short-term rental service, popular with vacationers, boasts that two …

Mail-Order Brides—A Form of Human Trafficking?

By Mariel Branagan Entering “mail-order brides” into any search engine results in a minimum of a half-million entries. The introduction of the internet to the mail-order bride industry created an explosion of supply and demand for women, making it easier for international marriage brokers to reach more people and cheaper to facilitate sales since they don’t need to use paper …

From Modeling to Sex Trafficking: A Slippery Slope

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By  Bailee Clark In the past two years, bright lights have been shone on big names such as Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and Larry Nassar, pointing out their continuous predation. Beyond the shock of these tragedies, people have responded with confusion as to how these horrifying acts can continue to occur in such established industries. The modeling industry is no …

What does teen grooming look like?

what does teen grooming looks like?

By  Linda Manson Back to school means new classrooms, new friends, and new activities. As kids start a school year, they gain more independence and have opportunities to try new things. These same positive aspects of growing up are also opportunities for sex traffickers to find and manipulate young people. Back to school is an ideal time for parents to …

A Look at the National Human Trafficking Hotline’s 2018 Statistics 

By  Aashna Sawhney – Staff Writer On July 30, 2019, The National Human Trafficking Hotline published a summary of its 2018 statistics detailing the number of cases, the prevalence of different types of trafficking, and crucial demographics regarding trafficking. The data demonstrated many changes from the previous year while confirming some of our previous notions about the horrific crime. The …

Males- The Silent Victims of Human Trafficking

by Aubrey McMahan  Human Trafficking: It’s Not Just For Women and Children It’s not too difficult to conjure up images of women and young children being manipulated and subjected to human trafficking at home and abroad. Human trafficking is, however, not a women’s issue. Nor is it a children’s issue. Males also face the reality of being trafficked, yet they …

Call for Applicants: 2019-2020 Just Ask Prevention Youth Council

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PRESS RELEASE August 13, 2019 To read the full press release: Call for Applicants: 2019-2020 Just Ask Youth Council “I was trafficked for three years starting when I was 14 years old. He trafficked me for three years, the whole time I was going to school and living at home. But no one ever helped me; no one ever asked …

Why Is A Bank Involved in Detecting Human Trafficking?

This blog post has been written in collaboration with The Fauquier Bank. It doesn’t always seem like a bank should be involved in detecting and reporting on non-financial crimes against their customers.  Crimes against the customer’s debit cards, sure!  An attempt to forge a check against their account?  Absolutely.  But would a bank be looking out for burglary?  Well, in …