Your personal data isn’t the only thing that’s vulnerable on Facebook.
The rise of social media has been a boon for sex traffickers, making it easier than ever for pimps to target, groom and sell your children, top law-enforcement officials say.
“These predators are watching, and they’re listening. They’re friending. They’re seeing, ‘Oh, she’s not happy with school,’ ‘Oh, he’s upset against his parents,’ ‘Oh, he has issues with his sexuality,’ or, ‘She’s having problems with her friends,’ ” says Inspector Jim Klein, commander of the NYPD’s Vice Enforcement Unit.
“Next thing you know, these predators pick up on this, and they start becoming friendly to the point they’re now separating these victims from everybody that’s important to them.”
Some traffickers don’t even hide what they do.
“We’ve had cases where our pimps are . . . friends with [their victims’] relatives, and they’re posting about pimping out girls and making money,” says Queens prosecutor Jessica Melton.
All they need is a cheap ad and a burner phone.
The classified-ads site Backpage.com was seized and shuttered by the feds this month, but when it was in business, 600 to 800 ads were posted for “prostitutes” in New York state each day, according to the NYPD.
Now Backpage’s rivals are moving to fill the void.
“There are multiple sites that are going up on a daily basis,” said Lt. Christopher Sharpe, head of the NYPD human-trafficking team.
Making matters worse, with transactions taking place on a screen, johns are becoming more callous, says James Goward, chief of the Criminal Enterprise Bureau of the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
“It’s available for you like getting food delivered by Seamless,” he says.
