About ninety percent of Dutch young people are active on social media such as Hyves and Facebook. Communicating via the Internet creates the illusion of anonymity and security, which means that young people often reveal more of themselves than they would in ‘real life’. Loverboys make good use of this. Girls are increasingly becoming victims of loverboys through contact via the Internet. This way of finding victims by loverboys is also called the ‘loverboy method 2.0’. Below I describe how this method works and who the potential victims are.
Definition of lover boy
Before explaining the ‘loverboy method 2.0’, it is first worth considering the definition of loverboy:
,Loverboys are human traffickers who purposefully make women and/or men emotionally dependent by (the promise of) entering into a love relationship and then make them – through coercion, (threat of) violence or other fact, extortion, fraud, deception, abuse of dominance resulting from actual circumstances, abuse of a vulnerable position of these women or men – often in prostitution.,
The above definition shows that loverboys are seen as human traffickers, operating according to a specific method, namely making them emotionally dependent. It also appears that men (and boys) can also be victims of loverboys. Victims of loverboys are therefore not exclusively underage girls, as is often thought. Furthermore, loverboys not only focus on prostitution, but also create victims by, for example, forcing them to take out a loan or telephone subscription or smuggling drugs. Furthermore, human trafficking is a criminal offense and includes all forms of exploitation. In 2012, a proposal was submitted to increase the maximum sentence for human trafficking from eight to twelve years.
Loverboy method 2.0
When a loverboy recruits victims via the internet, this is also called the ‘loverboy method 2.0’. Loverboys can often use this method completely anonymously, under an alias or nickname, to gain the victim’s trust before they take the next steps. The reach of the loverboys is greater via the internet, because the loverboy can search for victims throughout the Netherlands.
The ‘loverboy method 2.0’ has four phases:
1. Grooming and Hawking
The definition of grooming is: ,The active approach and seduction of minors by an adult (on internet sites) with the ultimate goal of committing sexual abuse with that minor . ,
Loverboys can also passively look for victims by creating profiles on social media and trying to lure potential victims. However, the search is usually active by searching social media, websites for young people or chat sites. Several potential victims are approached and we wait to see who responds. Hawking is selecting the victims on the Internet. The selection is based on gender, age, education, hobbies and photos, among other things.
2. Capture
After the victim responds, the lover boy starts capturing him. This can happen in ‘real life’ by meeting with the victim or through contact via the internet, which is first continued and expanded. If the lover boy builds up a bond of trust with the victim via the internet, he can fish for personal and/or confidential information. They can also persuade victims to use the webcam for sexually explicit images. The victims often do not realize that the videos they make can be abused.
3. Incorporation
During the incorporation phase, a meeting often takes place in ‘real life’. During that appointment, or after a number of appointments, the victim is often forced to perform sexual acts or is the victim of rape by one or more people. Furthermore, the lover boy can blackmail the victim with the information obtained or the webcam videos. The lover boy promises to keep it a secret in exchange for a favor in return, usually sexual acts.
4. Exploitation
The exploitation phase is the phase in which the lover boy uses his victim for his own gain, such as forced prostitution.
The victims of loverboys
About twenty-five percent of the victims are minors, sometimes even younger than fourteen years old. About fifty percent are between the ages of 18 and 23 and the remaining twenty-five percent are older than 23. 17-year-old girls in particular are attractive victims because they are allowed to work in prostitution from the age of eighteen. If children are under the age of 18 and work in prostitution, this automatically falls under human trafficking and coercion does not have to be proven. Victims of loverboys who are younger than 17 are often used for illegal prostitution or in other sectors such as drug trafficking. Adolescent girls are extra sensitive to attention from young people, which makes them easier victims for lover boys. In addition, girls with below average intelligence are at greater risk of becoming victims of loverboys, due to their greater vulnerability and suggestibility. About eighty-five percent of the victims have Dutch nationality. Girls from strict religious families are generally more at risk, due to their strict upbringing and therefore less ability to guard their own boundaries. Girls from an honor culture are also more likely to be victims, because the family’s honor is at stake when certain information or videos about them come out, which means they will do more to keep it a secret. Many of the victims come from a problematic family situation with backgrounds such as addiction, neglect or domestic violence.