Today, traffickers use social media, gaming platforms, messaging apps, and online communities to build trust, manipulate, and exploit vulnerable young people. We've created free resources designed to help parents, caregivers, educators, and teens recognize the warning signs and stay informed.
Every day, we walk alongside women who have survived sex trafficking. Their experiences give us unique insight into how exploitation often begins, and how education can help prevent it. We've created these resources using survivor-informed knowledge and trusted national research so more families can recognize the warning signs before exploitation occurs.
Trafficking adapts to find the vulnerable. Today that means the same platforms kids use for homework, gaming, and staying in touch with friends.
Reports of online enticement, first half of 2025, nearly double the prior year (NCMEC)
Increase in child sex trafficking reports over the same period (NCMEC)
Of children online report being approached by someone trying to manipulate them (Thorn / NCMEC)
Most common way survivors' exploitation began: social media recruitment, just behind false job offers
Additionally, trusted gaming platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft, and VRChat have become active recruitment channels.
A stranger, or someone pretending to be a peer, gradually builds trust over weeks or even months before introducing secrecy, manipulation, or exploitation.
A predator pressures or tricks a young person into sharing explicit photos or videos, then threatens to expose them unless they keep complying. AI-generated images are increasingly used too.
Offers involving modeling, social media influencing, scholarships, employment, or travel may be used to lure vulnerable teens into dangerous situations.
Traffickers often encourage young people to hide conversations from parents or trusted adults, creating dependence and secrecy before exploitation occurs.
Age-banded conversation guides with real scripts and questions, not just warnings.
How online recruitment actually works today, and how it connects to the survivors House of Cherith serves.
A one-page printable card with red flags and the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
If you or someone you know may be experiencing exploitation or trafficking, help is available 24/7 and confidential. If a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
House of Cherith exists to walk alongside survivors of sex trafficking and exploitation as they reclaim their dignity, their faith in people, and their future. We believe the same love that fuels that work should also reach families before a crisis starts. These guides are our way of standing in the gap, for the parent who doesn't know where to start the conversation, and for the teenager who needs to recognize the signs before it's too late.
