We define this as the process of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something being done to potential victims of exploiters. We do this through first identifying that a individual is indeed a victim of either grooming tactics, suicide bullying, targeted harassment, etc… Thankfully many potential victims will often times take advice and acknowledge that they’re being targeted and will block and begin to protect themselves through being empowered by the knowledge shared to them. However it’s just as common to witness a victim falling prey to their perpetrators or feeling as if their stuck in there position due to them. If as a concern individual you come across an event such as this, the tips offered here are to help you to report the crime and have the victim receive help.
Step One: Identify if a crime is occurring
As stated before, often times the potential victim may already know they are being targeted and may just be ignoring the perpetrator or “trolling” them. Ways to determine if they are a victim however include.
– Do they believe the perpetrators are their friends and have their best interest in mind.
– Are they sharing private information with them.
– Does the perpetrators have access to the victims accounts
– Is the victim part of the perpetrators community
– Is there a history between the two that may suggest it’s been ongoing for a unreasonable amount of time.
If yes to any of these there is a strong chance the victim is in danger and a crime may occur, if it hasn’t occurred already.
Step Two: Gathering Evidence and Information
At this point we want to find help for the victim ASAP, not only should you report this to a tip-line right then and there, but you could take it a step further and document what is happening.
– Save chat logs in any way you see fit, it’s always good to save identifying IDs and urls for future reference if needed.
– Save accounts of all parties and document them for a report.
While your in the process of acquiring needed information be mindful this may afford you a chance to determine the location of the victim so you may be able to contact their local authorities, family or friends, or another organization so they may intervene and protect the victim.
Many people may think using OSINT, aka open source intelligence, may seem illegal, but in fact it’s all public information that you’ve gathered, as long as your mindful, responsible and understand that it can be viewed as private information which could lead you into trouble if you abuse it. Then you may use this as a opportunity to help prevent more victimization of said individual.
Step Three: Report the crime
You may think reporting to the website
that the crime is occurring on is all you have to do, but it’s better
to be safe than sorry and report to the proper authorities as well.
Most companies appear to not have a way to be held accountable, thus
we believe it’s more important that we know the right people are
aware of what is happening so the victim can receive aid.
–
Send your report to the authorities, if you think you should send it
to more than one then do so, it won’t hurt.
– Send another report straight to the family if possible so they can help their family member directly, possibly the fastest and the most surefire way to get help for the victim, keep in mind though the family involved may also be abusive or neglectful themselves.
-Send the report to nonprofit agencies that are dedicated to these issues.
*We understand this procedure may feel uncomfortable, especially contacting a family member, but knowing that the victim is being helped we believe is far more important than some awkward conversation you may have. Lastly, even if we don’t see the results of our labor, we do affect the world with our actions.
Exposing Exploitation 