Copyright 2023 Marline E. Pearson
LESSON 6 • 111
❖ Traffickers are slick manipulators who know how to slowly lure a person in. We call this grooming.
❖ Victims can easily come to believe they have chosen to do this and do not see themselves as victims. Because
of this, many do not seek help to leave.
❖ (PP-Advance bullets) It can happen to anyone, but traffickers especially
prey on people who are vulnerable.
❖ Traffickers target their victims by looking for people who have emotional
or material needs that are not being met, such as homelessness, feeling
rejected, alone, living or recently out of foster care, or wanting to escape a
home with violence or addiction.
❖ Traffickers groom their victims by trying to gain trust by getting to know their victims. They slowly build
a relationship and establish trust by appearing to listen and care deeply. They make it seem like they have
the answer to what the person needs.
❖ Once traffickers know their victim’s needs or wants, they give them things to meet their material or
emotional needs and/or offer false promises to them.
• I understand you. I’ll take care of you. You can live at my place. I’ll get your drugs.
• I can get you a great job in modeling…in the music… or entertainment industry.
❖ A common ploy is to form a romantic relationship with a potential victim.
• The promise of love—whether it’s romantic, friendship, or familial—is one of the most common
weapons used in sex trafficking.
• Being loved is one of our most essential human needs.
❖ As the relationship and trust grow, the trafficker slowly isolates—cuts the victim off from friends and
family. The victim becomes dependent on their trafficker.
❖ Victims can begin to feel obligated, indebted—even loyal to their trafficker.
• They know that what they’ve been given can be taken away.
• In this way, many can come to believe it is their choice, and the consequence of leaving may seem
worse than losing access to what they are getting.
Knowing How It Happens
LESSON 6 • 111
❖ Traffickers are slick manipulators who know how to slowly lure a person in. We call this grooming.
❖ Victims can easily come to believe they have chosen to do this and do not see themselves as victims. Because
of this, many do not seek help to leave.
❖ (PP-Advance bullets) It can happen to anyone, but traffickers especially
prey on people who are vulnerable.
❖ Traffickers target their victims by looking for people who have emotional
or material needs that are not being met, such as homelessness, feeling
rejected, alone, living or recently out of foster care, or wanting to escape a
home with violence or addiction.
❖ Traffickers groom their victims by trying to gain trust by getting to know their victims. They slowly build
a relationship and establish trust by appearing to listen and care deeply. They make it seem like they have
the answer to what the person needs.
❖ Once traffickers know their victim’s needs or wants, they give them things to meet their material or
emotional needs and/or offer false promises to them.
• I understand you. I’ll take care of you. You can live at my place. I’ll get your drugs.
• I can get you a great job in modeling…in the music… or entertainment industry.
❖ A common ploy is to form a romantic relationship with a potential victim.
• The promise of love—whether it’s romantic, friendship, or familial—is one of the most common
weapons used in sex trafficking.
• Being loved is one of our most essential human needs.
❖ As the relationship and trust grow, the trafficker slowly isolates—cuts the victim off from friends and
family. The victim becomes dependent on their trafficker.
❖ Victims can begin to feel obligated, indebted—even loyal to their trafficker.
• They know that what they’ve been given can be taken away.
• In this way, many can come to believe it is their choice, and the consequence of leaving may seem
worse than losing access to what they are getting.
Knowing How It Happens
