The number of online fake profiles threatens girls, boys and teenagers

We recommend talking to underage children about the risks of talking to strangers through videogame chats

The increasing number of fake online profiles used to recruit victims of trafficking, especially girls, boys and teenagers, may correspond to a criminal movement to social networks, according to the Citizen Council for Safety and Justice in Mexico City, which receives reports from all across the country through its Line and National Chat Against Human Trafficking (LNCTP) and Safety Line

Videogames are a means cyber criminals use to attract underage children. By using fake profiles, they seek to establish friendships and sentimental relationships, to get photos or sexual videos or to convince victims to abandon their homes, according to reports received by the LNCTP during 2021.

“The reports the Citizen Council receives about this way of hooking doubled throughout this year in comparison with all 2020, especially, for example, in relation with using Facebook to recruit people for trafficking by making people fall in love or offering false work opportunities,” said Salvador Guerrero Chiprés, president of the Citizen Council, when discussing the results of two Trafficking reports generated in the course of 2021.

Between January and October, the LNCTP operated by the organism registered 10 cases that point videogames as possible ways of attracting girls, boys and teenagers; while there were five in 2020. However, in terms of vulnerability of boys, girls and teenagers in relation with child porn, reports from the Council and National Guard’s allies, with whom they have established work tables on the matter, reach 400 thousand per year.

“During the first interactions of online videogame chats, possible traffickers create rapport in order to establish some kind of ‘friendship’ that may derive in a ‘love relationship’. By using a fake profile and photographs they use the victim’s vulnerability and get information that they use to promise them a better life, they push them to leave their homes and even travel to other states,” Guerrero Chiprés explained.

As a way to prevent this, communication is very important. Some useful parents for parents and care-givers are: to be part of their world in order to be aware of the videogames they like and how they interact with them; to talk to them about the risks of talking to strangers who may not be who they say they are; to learn about parental controls offered by Internet platforms and search engines, and to limit the number of hours they spend on gadgets.

Before the suspicion of risk, which may be detected through sigs such as walking into their room and finding them hiding their phone or changing the screen rapidly and nervously, it’s recommended to report and seek professional help.

“Sometimes they propose moving their cyber relationship from social networks or games to instant messaging apps in order to interact in a more personal way. In some cases, the aggressor’s intention is to obtain photographs or videos with sex content in order to distribute them and sell them on social networks or through websites.

“The age most potential victims have is from 9 to 14,” declared Guerrero Chiprés while talking about this hooking method presented today by Ricardo Mejía, Citizen Safety sub-secretary from the Citizen Protection and Security Secretariat, in president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s morning conference.

At the Citizen Council there’s a team of 115 psychologists and 94 lawyers who offer free service 24/7, while in coordination with organisms such as Save the Children, Alumbra and Facebook as well as the National Guard, it develops campaigns to prevent Trafficking, child pornography and digital sex violence.

Between January and October 20^th 2021, they’re received one thousand 571 reports at the Line and National Chat against Human Trafficking; indicating a reduction of 13.7% regarding the same period of 2020. Around 41% of the identified victims are underage and 62% are women.

This year, the Citizen Council has contributed with opening 8% of the investigation files for the crime of trafficking nationwide.

The National Line against Human Trafficking 800 5533 000 offers free legal and psychological support 24/7, and reports can be confidential if the victim or witness wishes so.