Zip-ties. Car seats. White vans.

Myths about sex-trafficking are pervasive on social media, and obscure information on what real sex trafficking tends to look like. The most widely circulated myth is likely that victims of sex trafficking are kidnapped by strangers.

In reality, most victims of sex trafficking are intimately related with their traffickers.

Individuals have perpetuated rumors online that traffickers lure their victims with abandoned car seats, mark their targets’ cars with zip ties or transport victims via white vans.

There have been zero reported cases of zip ties being used as markers or lures for victims, based on data from the U.S. National Trafficking Hotline and local law enforcement reports. The same can be said of abandoned car seats, recorded sounds of babies crying, text messages about unclaimed packages and drug-laced flowers. Traffickers have also been found to drive all types of cars, not just the stereotypical white van.

Myths about sex trafficking often begin with a singular social media post that, despite its inaccuracy, becomes embedded in public consciousness. In 2019, a woman in Texas claimed on Facebook that zip ties found on her car were a signal she was being targeted by traffickers.

Two years later, a woman from North Carolina posted in a Tiktok video which amassed 13 million views, warning that an abandoned carseat in a parking lot was being used as bait by traffickers.

Similar rumors about white vans with external locks have circulated widely on Facebook, yet experts have not found evidence to support these claims. Despite this lack of evidence, these stories continue to resurface on social media, reinforcing a false sense of how trafficking actually occurs.

Whatever the intention may be for creating inaccurate portrayals of sex trafficking, they all cause authentic stories of trafficking to become lost in the margins.

It is true that sex trafficking can happen to anyone, but there are significant risk factors that make it more likely to occur. Individuals who experience unstable housing, domestic violence, substance abuse (either personally or within their family), foster care involvement, undocumented status or have history of sexual abuse are all at greater risk of being victims of sex trafficking.

Traffickers often use romantic love, familial connection or friendship to groom their victims. Common tactics include gaining the victims trust, isolating individuals from their community, financial coercion, violence and love-bombing. These tactics can be highly effective, which is why it can be extraordinarily difficult for victims to leave, despite a lack of physical restraints.

Even if we cannot solve trafficking ourselves, knowing the facts helps us identify those around us who are actually at risk, and we can curb the spread of misinformation by reporting false posts on social media. By shifting our attention from sensationalized myths to the lived realities of victims, we can better understand and prevent sex trafficking.

Traffickers are not hiding behind zip-ties, car seats or white vans. They are leveraging people’s vulnerabilities, and understanding this reality is vital to meaningful intervention.