Lover boy technique in sex trafficking

One of the very worst sociopath love fraud scenarios is where sociopathic men target vulnerable underage girls by pretending to be their boyfriend and giving them “love”, attention, affection etc to lure them into sex work.

This is called the “lover boy strategy” and it’s basically an even more sociopathic and evil and criminal version of regular love fraud in regular dating.

Shows that “love” and attention and affection are very effective tools for manipulating innocent trusting people.

Example article from Europe discussing this strategy:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37622796

Excerpts:

In the eastern village of Nicoresti, traffickers prey on girls, luring them away by promising love or money.

At least one girl a month gets involved with the pimps, says Briton Claire Melinte, who founded a community centre for children in the village after marrying a local man.

She says they recruit the girls using the so-called “lover boy scheme”.

This is when men befriend vulnerable girls and act like their boyfriend, giving them attention and affection to gain their trust before they hand them over to be trafficked.

…

‘Not sorry’

Valentin Preda trafficked 15 women to Italy over five years and is now serving a five-year sentence for people-trafficking in a jail near Bucharest.

He worked with family members, including his mother, but other traffickers work as individuals or within organised criminal networks.

He admits he used the “lover boy” method to recruit women and says trafficking should not count as a crime if the girls go willingly.

“You really don’t think that it’s someone’s daughter; you think just that you have to make money and that’s it,” he says.

“I wouldn’t be sorry to start again.”