I know this isn’t what I usually post about, but with schools shut down and businesses closed, I’ve been worrying a lot about the minors and young adults who suddenly have a lot more time on their hands, and I know they’re spending a lot of it online. For human traffickers, this quarantine situation is like shooting fish in a barrel.

Please, please, please protect yourselves.

If I could add one more thing to this list of 5 tips, I’d add don’t complain to strangers about your parents, or respond to friend requests or messages from someone new who contacts you after publicly complaining about your parents (actually, don’t publicly complain about your parents at all). I get it. Being a teen is rough, and sometimes you feel like your parents are driving you up the wall.

The thing is, traffickers know that, too, and a common tactic they use is looking for the young people who complain about their family. They act like a “safe” space for you to vent your problems. They validate every feeling and tell you how right you are, how unfair your parents are, and maybe they pretend to be young and talk about how unfair their parents are, too. Sooner or later they drive a psychological wedge between you and your family, make you feel like you can’t trust your parents but you can trust them, and that they’re the only one who loves and understands you while convincing you your parents don’t. Please be wary of people online who try to get you to tell them about your family.

But yeah, also, click on the link above and read the other 5 tips. I promise they’re not as long-winded as me.

OH and watch out for people, even online friends you’ve been talking to for a while, who offer you an easy way to make money (common lures are photography, dancing, modelling, etc. but they can be other things, too). Those who rescue teens from trafficking say many of them fell for lies like this. I know things are economically crazy right now, but if something sounds too good to be true, it is.