CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's a crime that hides in plain sight, and as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month comes to a close, the Charlotte field office of the FBI is helping to separate fact from fiction.
"We have seen a lot in the media and we've heard a lot of anecdotal accounts," Supervisory Special Agent Jason Kaplan said.
Kaplan said the stories we hear about abductions from the local malls or predators lurking in parking lots are actually the rarest form of human trafficking cases.
"Think of it almost like a pyramid," Kaplan said.
At the top of that pyramid -- abductions by strangers.
"The very tip of the pyramid are some of the most horrific scary things that we spend our nights worrying about," Kaplan said.
Those cases are so rare, the local FBI field office could not recall more than a couple that have crossed their desks in recent years.
But Kaplan said what they do encounter every day is women and girls that are being taken advantage of -- convinced they are in loving relationships, and instead being coerced into risky behavior.
"They're individuals that are known to the victims, they're people with whom they've developed a relationship," Kaplan said. "They've essentially been groomed."
Kaplan challenged parents to remain vigilant about the people who creep into our children's social media accounts.
"You're cautious about the way they are when they walk to school but you're not necessarily paying attention to what's happening at home," he said.
Another big claim is that Charlotte is a human trafficking hub.
According to the FBI, there is no reliable data to determine the prevalence of human trafficking in any city or geographic region. Human trafficking is not restricted to one area of the U.S.
Across the country, the FBI caseload has increased significantly in the past several years. As of November 2019, there were more than 1,900 pending human trafficking investigations.
Kaplan acknowledged that North Carolina often reports more potential cases of human trafficking, but he said those numbers could just be the result of our communities being informed about the signs.
"We get a lot more tips, we get a lot more complaints about it, we get a lot more cases that come from it," Kaplan says. "But, we may also get a reputation for having a bigger problem because, quite frankly, we've shone a light on a very dark area and I think there are other parts of the country that haven't shone that light."