No, Sex Traffickers Aren’t Putting Fentanyl-Laced Zip Ties on Michigan Cars
Recently I've seen a post on Facebook being shared by people that I know around the state of Michigan.
The post is meant to be a warning to Michiganders about a new tactic used by sex traffickers, but it appears that it's completely fabricated.
👇These Kids Have All Gone Missing This Year in Michigan👇
While, yes, we should all always be aware of our surroundings and diligent about our safety, some of the things we're being told to be on the lookout for via random social media posts simply aren't actual threats.
Social Media Post Claims Sex Traffickers Are Putting Fentanyl-Laced Zip Ties on Cars
The particular post that I have been seeing is from someone named Gail who says that her nephew and his girlfriend went to a Meijer recently and when they left the store, they noticed a zip tie around one of the spokes on their driver's side tire.
The post goes on to say that the police were called and when they showed up they told the couple,
that sex traffickers and drug traffickers place this on victims tires sometimes it can be laced with fentanyl to make the victims pass out so they can take them. - Gail F. via Facebook
That particular Facebook post has been shared over 108,000 times since March 6.
How Do We Know That It Isn't True?
Well, for one - that same post was posted to Instagram by a different account more than two weeks earlier and said that it was "a repost from a fb friend."
Then, looking closer at Gail's Facebook profile, I also noticed that she lives in Tennessee - and so do the majority of her family members. She has two nephews listed on Facebook, both are located in Alabama. The "Mooresville Meijer" that is referenced in her post is likely this one in Indiana.
READ MORE: Michigan Police Asking People to Stop Doing This Weird Thing at Schools
Then, I went to the experts - Google, Politifact, and the actual police.
Posts just like this one were addressed in an article from Politifact all the way back in 2019. They determined that the claims were false.
In fact, I couldn't find any news articles showing cases when this had happened, but did find instances of police departments debunking the rumors. WILX also spoke with someone from the Michigan State Police about the matter back in 2019.
Where to Get Reliable Information About Sex Trafficking Risks
We all know that not everything that we read on social media is true, so it's best to avoid it altogether when it comes to getting information about legitimate sex trafficking risks. The Polaris Project is a non-profit that works to end human trafficking.
They also do a great job of sharing credible information as well as debunking false information. In fact, they investigated zip ties on cars being used in trafficking, and say,
We examined data from the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline from January 2015 to August 2022 and found that there have been zero cases of zip ties being used as lures or markers that alert a potential trafficker of a vulnerable person. - The Polaris Project
