22 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018
told that their traffickers may withhold their true
passports once they have emigrated.
320F
321 And, of
course, trafficked persons are not told of the
abuse they are likely to face if they are being
trafficked for labor or sex, for example.
Just as traffickers have posed as boyfriend/
girlfriends or parental figures to entice persons
into their ring, cults may use flirtation and sex as
lures. For instance, in the cult known as
“Children of God,” recruiters attracted new
members using a technique called “flirty
fishing.”
321F
322 Flirty fishing involved using young
members as prostitutes to entice others to join
the group.
322F
323 Another technique, known as “love
bombing,” involves “an exchange of affection
(verbally and through smiles) that failed to
express genuine intimacy or connection to
others.”
323F
324
Both traffickers and cult leaders rely on the
Internet to fraudulently recruit members. The
Internet is the “latest hot spot for promoting
global trafficking and recruitment of women and
children.”
324F
325 It is especially used to advertise
“businesses” offering women and girls as brides
for marriage these “businesses” are actually sex
trafficking operations in disguise.
325F
326
Analogously, some cults have used the internet
to attract followers. Members of Heaven’s Gate,
for example, lured followers by broadcasting
their apocalyptic doctrine over the Internet.
326F
327
The doctrine advised listeners to leave the earth
321 Id. at 24−25, 26.
322 Miriam Williams Boeri &Karen Pressley, Creativity and Cults
from Sociological and Communication Perspectives: The
Processes Involved in the Birth of a Secret Creative Self, 9 CULTIC
STUD. REV.173, 192 (2010) Christina Arnold, Human Trafficking
as a Commercial Cult Mind Control Phenomenon, VIMEO (July 5,
2014) (vimeo.com/102628 104) (presenting on abuses in Children
of God). Arnold is the Founder/Board President of
Preventhumantrafficking.org.
323 See James D. Chancellor, A Response to Perry Bulwer’s
Evaluation of ‘Life in the Family,’ 6 CULTIC STUD. REV. 160, 162
(2007).
324 See Russell, supra note 314, at 113 (quoting Loomis).
325 Susan Tiefenbrun, The Saga of Susannah A U.S. Remedy for
Sex Trafficking in Women: The Victims of Trafficking and
Violence Protection Act of 2000, 2002 UTAH L. REV. 107, 119
(2002).
326 Id.
327 Luis Santamaria del Rio, The Internet as a New Place for
Sects, 7 CULTIC STUD. REV. 20, 23 (2008).
via a spacecraft behind the comet Haley-
Bopp.
327F
328 Their details of intending suicide were
so specific that another individual not living in
their compound committed suicide by following
their web-based instructions to “exit.”
328F
329
5. Isolation
Both traffickers and cultic organizations use
physical and psychological isolation as a tactic
for controlling their victims. Traffickers restrict
communication between their victims and
victims’ families, and they physically segregate
their victims in living and working quarters that
are apart from mass society.
329F
330 Cult researchers
believe that some destructive cults continue to
exist in isolated communities, likely depriving
children and adults of their basic human
rights.
330F
331 Often, cults are physically set apart
from society they may be geographically
separated in a rural area or, if located inside an
urban area, the adherents live in close proximity
to one another and are coached not to interact
with non-member neighbors.
331F
332 Cult members
are often told not to associate with nonmembers,
particularly family members who are not part of
the cult.
332F
333 This isolation distances the member
from the outside world and makes it easier for
him or her to be controlled.
333F
334
6. Shaming Tactics
Both traffickers and cults may gain control of
their victims by shaming. Trafficked individuals
are threatened with exposure back home of the
forced sex acts they have performed or the lack
of money they have produced.
334F
335 Taking
advantage of the pride of the individual,
traffickers exploit this vulnerability by
threatening to shame them at home.
335F
336
Traffickers have resorted to blackmail,
328 Id.
329 Id.
330 See HYLAND &SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 28.
331 See Bulwer, supra note 79, at 144 (referring The Family)
Arnold, supra note 320 (describing how she was isolated and had
no money, but wanted to “get out” of her cult).
332 Telephone Interview with Mike Kropveld, supra note 96.
333 Id.
334 Id.
335 See HYLAND &SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 27−28.
336 See id. at 28.
told that their traffickers may withhold their true
passports once they have emigrated.
320F
321 And, of
course, trafficked persons are not told of the
abuse they are likely to face if they are being
trafficked for labor or sex, for example.
Just as traffickers have posed as boyfriend/
girlfriends or parental figures to entice persons
into their ring, cults may use flirtation and sex as
lures. For instance, in the cult known as
“Children of God,” recruiters attracted new
members using a technique called “flirty
fishing.”
321F
322 Flirty fishing involved using young
members as prostitutes to entice others to join
the group.
322F
323 Another technique, known as “love
bombing,” involves “an exchange of affection
(verbally and through smiles) that failed to
express genuine intimacy or connection to
others.”
323F
324
Both traffickers and cult leaders rely on the
Internet to fraudulently recruit members. The
Internet is the “latest hot spot for promoting
global trafficking and recruitment of women and
children.”
324F
325 It is especially used to advertise
“businesses” offering women and girls as brides
for marriage these “businesses” are actually sex
trafficking operations in disguise.
325F
326
Analogously, some cults have used the internet
to attract followers. Members of Heaven’s Gate,
for example, lured followers by broadcasting
their apocalyptic doctrine over the Internet.
326F
327
The doctrine advised listeners to leave the earth
321 Id. at 24−25, 26.
322 Miriam Williams Boeri &Karen Pressley, Creativity and Cults
from Sociological and Communication Perspectives: The
Processes Involved in the Birth of a Secret Creative Self, 9 CULTIC
STUD. REV.173, 192 (2010) Christina Arnold, Human Trafficking
as a Commercial Cult Mind Control Phenomenon, VIMEO (July 5,
2014) (vimeo.com/102628 104) (presenting on abuses in Children
of God). Arnold is the Founder/Board President of
Preventhumantrafficking.org.
323 See James D. Chancellor, A Response to Perry Bulwer’s
Evaluation of ‘Life in the Family,’ 6 CULTIC STUD. REV. 160, 162
(2007).
324 See Russell, supra note 314, at 113 (quoting Loomis).
325 Susan Tiefenbrun, The Saga of Susannah A U.S. Remedy for
Sex Trafficking in Women: The Victims of Trafficking and
Violence Protection Act of 2000, 2002 UTAH L. REV. 107, 119
(2002).
326 Id.
327 Luis Santamaria del Rio, The Internet as a New Place for
Sects, 7 CULTIC STUD. REV. 20, 23 (2008).
via a spacecraft behind the comet Haley-
Bopp.
327F
328 Their details of intending suicide were
so specific that another individual not living in
their compound committed suicide by following
their web-based instructions to “exit.”
328F
329
5. Isolation
Both traffickers and cultic organizations use
physical and psychological isolation as a tactic
for controlling their victims. Traffickers restrict
communication between their victims and
victims’ families, and they physically segregate
their victims in living and working quarters that
are apart from mass society.
329F
330 Cult researchers
believe that some destructive cults continue to
exist in isolated communities, likely depriving
children and adults of their basic human
rights.
330F
331 Often, cults are physically set apart
from society they may be geographically
separated in a rural area or, if located inside an
urban area, the adherents live in close proximity
to one another and are coached not to interact
with non-member neighbors.
331F
332 Cult members
are often told not to associate with nonmembers,
particularly family members who are not part of
the cult.
332F
333 This isolation distances the member
from the outside world and makes it easier for
him or her to be controlled.
333F
334
6. Shaming Tactics
Both traffickers and cults may gain control of
their victims by shaming. Trafficked individuals
are threatened with exposure back home of the
forced sex acts they have performed or the lack
of money they have produced.
334F
335 Taking
advantage of the pride of the individual,
traffickers exploit this vulnerability by
threatening to shame them at home.
335F
336
Traffickers have resorted to blackmail,
328 Id.
329 Id.
330 See HYLAND &SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 28.
331 See Bulwer, supra note 79, at 144 (referring The Family)
Arnold, supra note 320 (describing how she was isolated and had
no money, but wanted to “get out” of her cult).
332 Telephone Interview with Mike Kropveld, supra note 96.
333 Id.
334 Id.
335 See HYLAND &SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 27−28.
336 See id. at 28.
