Gina Kenyon says her teen daughter received a message last summer stating she was a perfect ten who "can be set up with professional athletes, CEOs and actors ... and that they've started a big summer hiring push."
"I happen to be at a training volunteer for Catch the Wave of Hope and I brought the message to them," Kenyon said.
The Stuart organization, which helps human trafficking victims, passed the message on to law enforcement. "They found out that this was a trafficking ring out of California," Kenyon said.
She said she was shocked. "It's scary, it's very scary."
Though her daughter never responded to the message, Lynne Barletta with Catch the Wave of Hope says this summer, parents need to warn their kids: "Very, very frightening she was only 16-years-old. The average age of girls is 13 and the average age of boys is 11 and traffickers are targeting these children and they are targeting them over the summer."
Barletta says it's important to talk with your kids and know what they're looking at online especially during the summer months.
"Children can be messaged and if they respond to the message the grooming process can begin and it can take less than two weeks to talk a child into meeting a trafficker somewhere without parents knowing anything."
The organization says they are in the process of raising funds connected with this mural to build a home for trafficked girls.
Learn more: Catch The Wave Of Hope
