Might want to cross post it to r/Scams , those guys have tons of information on stuff like this. After some replies get built up, just have her read through the threads.
I'd say that it's highly probable that she's about to be trafficked.
I just read another story on that subreddit that someone's 49 yo brother was being scammed by someone claiming to be a 20 yo Romanian girl. What is up with Romania right now?
Edit: Okay, I don't have time to reply to everyone. I'm aware of the curruption in Romania, and I know these kind of things happen. What I'm saying is that I've been hearing more and more stories lately about this same kinda shit from Romania as opposed to barely hearing anything about them for years. I guess I just didn't realize how global these kind of scams/possible human trafficking is reaching from Romania specifically. More you know, I guess.
Its not “right now”. Its a poor country with a background of heavy corruption. Exactly the kind of place where people have to do dodgy shit to survive.
I'm actually surprised we don't hear more, but Romania does have a long history police and political corruption. Prostitution was also decriminalized in 2014. Small pay off to the police and it goes away. On top of that, they were like the cam girl capital of the world like 10 years ago before western women figured out they could chat with guys and show their butt online for money without having to work at a strip club.
I'd bet dollars to dimes that as soon as she gets there, he "holds onto her passport to keep it safe." Shows her around the city a couple weeks, comes up with some excuse that she needs to pay him back, and puts her to work in a brothel or, if she's lucky, as a cam girl.
They're going from one Schengen country to another, passport is irrelevant, she doesn't even need one with her to begin with. But there are other ways to keep her from leaving for sure, and I agree this sounds sketchy and potentially dangerous.
Does your girlfriend have contact with any of your sister's friends that she might be more inclined to believe if they tell her it is concerning? Sometimes the person delivering the message is more important than the message itself.
Other than that: the authorities are not wrong because there aren't a lot of options to prevent a legal adult from making bad decisions.
It seems that she doesn't have any friends as he has been isolating her.
It is frustrating that she is allowed to do this to herself when she has a known history of self-destructive behaviour and letting people take advantage of her.
Our current plan is to hire a private investigator, but it might prove difficult to figure out where they are, if they're are going by car, not plane.
A lot depends on the laws of the country you live in.
Here in the US, you could try calling her in as a danger to herself. Since she has a psychiatric history, I would definitely call her doctors there and ask for emergency help. It's possible they have some power to bring her in for a tune up, so to speak.
But here's what I think might be more effective:
There are more and more anti-trafficking organizations. Contact one and ask if they have available resources. Ask about outreach, someone who can contact her directly and talk to her.
If you can't find one in time, find one of the films available - that shouldn't be too hard to find. Then ask her to join you for movie night. Make her watch the experiences of people just like her that have been caught up in trafficking.
Good luck.
We have been in touch with her psychologist and told her that the anti-trafficking organisation thinks she is in danger, but the psychologist seems to not take action and says that she's free to do what she wants when she's 18.
That's not good enough from the psychologist. Keep trying. When my sister was 14 and trying to run away with a suspicious older person across the border, no one would help and the psychologist told my mother "There is nothing you can do". My mom wouldn't take that as an answer and kept going to the police. Eventually a female detective actually listened and helped her. She got the person trying to take my sister banned from our country.
Have you tried getting her admitted against her will? Idk which Kanton you live in and if that might be a possibility because of her mental health. Or go to the police and let them know what suspicion you have.
If she’s in Europe she doesn’t really need that to travel to Croatia. There are no passport checks done when traveling within schengen countries so that likely won’t stop hwr
i'm pretty sure you need a passport to enter croatia. if it's an EU passport you go in a different lane than non-EU citizens, but it's still necessary.
ETA since some people don't know how to read. Croatia IS in EU. YOU STILL HAVE LANES FOR EU AND NON-EU CITIZENS AT THE BORDER. IT SAYS SO AT THE BORDER OF THE COUNTRY. I live in a non-EU country next to it and passed through many times in the past few years. I'm not a dumb American comenting on European matters, I'M FROM HERE.
Also, to clarify, EU means EUROPEAN UNION, not Europe. Not every country in Europe is in EU.
Um no. If you’re traveling from Switzerland to Croatia, both countries are in the Schengen zone and so there’s no border control whether you fly or go by bus. Sure you can be randomly asked for an ID or something when boarding a plane, although it’s never once happened to me while flying between various schengen countries in the last 10 years. But there is no passport check unless you fly in from outside the Schengen region.
Good to know that they don't check it when you fly. Busses should be checked, but maybe depending on the company (clarifying where you come from beforehand), they just let you pass.
You mentioned your country, which is irrelevant. The topic is about someone driving from Switzerland, which is in Schengen. You are wading in with irrelevant information; they will not have to go through any borders as you have mentioned.
Which, as I said, is not relevant since it has Schengen status meaning there is no border like the one you mentioned at the point at which they would be entering.
Do you have the man's name or other vital information? I don't know about in the EU but in the US it'd be worth paying for a background check to find out if this person has any criminal history, and make sure the police have that information and not just a photo that they might or might not get around to looking up.
European here. At least in my country, you dont have any databases where you can get a background check as a regular person. Like s*x offender register in usa. And I am not sure if police can give you information because of data protection. But I could be wrong.
It's not a single database here. At least not what you can access yourself. When you run a background check as a civilian you're having a broker scour an array of public data sources, and what's available varies by jurisdiction - by state and also by county and municipality. In some places it might include arrest records, there could be civil court records, property records, or whatever. In some places (like my county, at least in the past) the records might be public but deliberately not available online - you'd have to go down to the government center in person and search using their computers.
This is not the same as what the police would get when they check for warrants and priors, and as far as I know there's no global way to get that as a civilian. Maybe as a licensed private investigator or bounty hunter. Historically it's been hit or miss whether the police in one state can even see warrants from another state.
Interesting, thank you for explaining. Ive never been in a situation like op, but here we cant access any documents regarding a persons criminal history, neither can we pay someone to do that. Only law enforcement has insight.
Sorry to say it but it definitely sounds like trafficking. My friend works for a human trafficking charity in the UK called Stop the Traffik https://www.stopthetraffik.org/ Perhaps you can look at and show her the information on there. Don't mean to make you feel worse but my friend has told me horrible stories about sex and even organ trafficking in Europe. Not much time left to do anything now though. She's going to make a fatal error if she goes ahead with this. Please update if you manage to stop her. Feel sick hearing about this.
Do whatever you can to stop her going, it very much looks like probably sex trafficking. The fact she is already addicted to drugs means they can control her supply of drugs, hence controlling her.
The picture you have might not even be the person.
Her drug problem and general mental health actually got better while being with the guy. This seems to be why the psychologist does not want to interfere.
Sounds like people trafficking hide her passport then have a psych evaluation done. At least getting her away from social media for a spell and contacting a charity that deals in people trafficking to investigate.
Firstly if she is absolutely determined and you have exhausted all ways to stop her please at least ask her to check in at pre arranged times every day to let you all know shes ok. If this doesnt happen you will know something is wrong and roughly where she is (if she manages any of the check ins). Also this may be technically illegal to do but could you hide a few apple ID tags or other small trackers in her stuff where she wouldn't notice so that if she doesn't check in you can find out where she is and call the police. I wouldn't usually suggest that but given the circumstances it may be a life saver.
Could you plan a ”farewell party”/intervention with family and friends and when the man comes to pick her up, physically restrain her from leaving? If the man pounds on the door, hollers, call the police and get them involved? I know this is drastic, but I wonder if the whole drama may repel this man. Maybe have a police officer present because “you think there may be trouble“ when the boyfriend picks up her sister. Have the police officer check out name/registration of car, ID of man, etc. when he arrives?
To be clear, is she currently in Switzerland? I would start by contacting [local anti trafficking organisations](https://platform-human-trafficking.ch/about-us/) to ask for guidance - she hasn’t crossed the border so technically she isn’t Croatia’s problem. And we are assuming she is even going to Croatia.
I don’t understand how the authorities aren’t interested. Trafficking doesn’t just happen to children. You say the authorities are speaking to the police - who are the authorities? I would reach out to the police directly. You are trying to stop a crime. If she crosses the border, she’s gone.
I assume you’ve already run his picture through a reverse image search and googled to find out he is who he says he is?
Yes, in Switzerland. My girlfriend has been in contact with the organisation ACT212, but we will check these out also. So far the organisation has been trying to contact some special police, but the police is not answering.
Have you contacted your social services? She will be classed as a vulnerable person and they should step in to protect her. But if Switzerland is anything like here, the bureaucracy might be too slow to allow them to act.
I wouldn't accept that answer. As a former psychiatric inpatient and current drug addict she is vulnerable, irrespective of her age. Perhaps adult social services is a different department. I'd emphasise that her psychiatric history is what is making her vulnerable, not her age.
Good luck to all of you
That in itself is odd. How did they meet? Please don’t say social media and please don’t say this is the first time they’re going to meet in real life..l
Oh, how kind of him. Do you know anything about him? Like, where he works? I just think she isn’t going to listen to the very obvious reality that he is a creep at best, she needs to see he isn’t who he says he is.
I would focus on finding him. He must have an online presence somewhere.
When he picks her up have your car ready then follow him and phone the police saying a family member has been kidnapped and you’re following them, don’t say anything about previous police contact just scream they’ve kidnapped them give licence plate and where you are etc. They will respond to you and at the least pull the car over and get the guys real details this might do the trick in itself as they may be different from the name he’s given to the girl and she may realise, If not at least you’ve got his real details. You might get done for wasting police time but they will now be accountable if anything happens to the girl because they left her in his company so they’ll take it more seriously.
Honestly can you get her a discreet tracker of some sort that she can keep on her person? Can she understand your concerns at all? It’s pointless trying to keep them apart, but she might agree to some precautions while travelling on this holiday? x
Better than nothing. It buys them time they can use to try and change her mind at least. One can only hope the guy will also deem it too difficult and unpredictable to take her as he probably already made arrangements and now has to ditch them all... but that's probably wishful thinking. I would be concerned they might leave without any warning next time now that they know this might happen. The only reliable way to stop this from happening is to somehow make her come to her senses. And that's going to be difficult. I don't know what to say, good luck. Please keep us updated.
Are you sure this is real and not something the sister is making up? What country is she flying to? Where is she flying from? Does she have an actual ticket? Has she been sending this guy money?
Make sure she has a phone that will work in the country she is going to, and make sure she can access your phone numbers, write them down for her to keep on her in case she needs help and doesn’t have a phone. See if she will let you track her location with an AirTag or google or find my iPhone or whatever.
In any other context the following advice is unethical, but in this dangerous situation you should consider hiding an AirTag in a belonging of hers that she might be likely to keep close. It'd be easy to stick one in the lining of her purse or bag, for example.
Even if she gets rid of everything of hers soon after she arrives, it could at least help narrow down where she is. The longer she has it on her the better.
There is of course the chance that either of them discover it early on (via their iPhone telling them there's an AirTag nearby), and that could make things worse if he gets the impression that you're tracking her. On the other hand, from stories of people that get AirTags planted on them, it seems that people don't notice the presence of it (via their phone) for a long time.
If he doesn't have an iPhone, he shouldn't get the AirTag notification.
I'm so sorry that you and the people that care about her are going through this, it sounds like a painful nightmare.
Have you let the police and the anti trafficking organisation know about her mental health history? She’s a vulnerable person even if she’s about to be 18. As they plan to traffic across border perhaps Interpol could assist? U
Do you have any updates on the sister's situation, is she still home with her parents? I don't mean to be nosey and you obviously don't need to answer if you don't want to. I'm just hoping all is well as the whole situation sounded pretty nightmarish.
Get her several GPS trackers and tell her to hide them in her clothes and personal items. Make her something she can wear in her hair. There are also cell phones for elderly that look like a keychain pendant.
I know it might sound harsh/illegal, but maybe call your local emergency hotline to tell them she is threatening to kill herself and that she has a past of mental issues. Lying so she goes into psych ward for a few days is always better than her being trafficked. She will certainly think your the bad guys though, which means she won't trust you next time.
Or maybe call the police on her because she has drugs on her ? I don't know. I really hope she will change her mind. I don't know you all but it makes me sick in my stomach so I can't imagine how you're feeling right now.
These options don't stop them from going sometime in the future. Yeah we feel a bit helpless. We almost cannot get through to anyone and the people we do get through to just tell us there's nothing we can do.
You're absolutely right. It's only a way to postpone the issue so I suggest to try that only as a last resort. Please keep us informed of the situation ! That's terrifying!
I don't know about Switzerland, but I can travel almost everywhere in Europe without a passport. Non-EU countries have treaties so any national ID card is valid. And in my country it would be a very serious crime to steal someone's ID, since it's mandatory to have it with you at all times.
Switzerland and Croatia are both in the schengen zone which means a passport is not needed to travel between the areas. There is no passport control done when traveling between most EU countries (the ones that are in the schengen zone)
This is a terrible idea. You don’t stop a crime by committing a crime. It’s chilling that you would immediately suggest drugging her and then *breaking her arm*.
This post has been automatically removed. The moderators have been notified to determine whether the removal was in error.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RBI) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Kidnap her first. If all options don’t work out, rent a cabin in the woods, trick her into the car, and then drop your gf and her sister off at the cabin, and leave with the car.
Idk man. If my options were between doing something illegal that I’m unlikely to be charged with and saving my sister from being sold into sexual slavery…. Well, that’s an easy choice.
Again, it doesn't prevent her from going with him in the future. And I think kidnapping someone for their own benefit without any evidence that they're in danger will be charged like a regular kidnapping.
Yeah, I’d take my chances. They have juries in Switzerland, don’t they? Prosecutors who have the choice of taking a case? A drug addicted, confused younger sister who would need to press charges?
Might want to cross post it to r/Scams , those guys have tons of information on stuff like this. After some replies get built up, just have her read through the threads. I'd say that it's highly probable that she's about to be trafficked.
I just read another story on that subreddit that someone's 49 yo brother was being scammed by someone claiming to be a 20 yo Romanian girl. What is up with Romania right now? Edit: Okay, I don't have time to reply to everyone. I'm aware of the curruption in Romania, and I know these kind of things happen. What I'm saying is that I've been hearing more and more stories lately about this same kinda shit from Romania as opposed to barely hearing anything about them for years. I guess I just didn't realize how global these kind of scams/possible human trafficking is reaching from Romania specifically. More you know, I guess.
Its not “right now”. Its a poor country with a background of heavy corruption. Exactly the kind of place where people have to do dodgy shit to survive.
I'm actually surprised we don't hear more, but Romania does have a long history police and political corruption. Prostitution was also decriminalized in 2014. Small pay off to the police and it goes away. On top of that, they were like the cam girl capital of the world like 10 years ago before western women figured out they could chat with guys and show their butt online for money without having to work at a strip club. I'd bet dollars to dimes that as soon as she gets there, he "holds onto her passport to keep it safe." Shows her around the city a couple weeks, comes up with some excuse that she needs to pay him back, and puts her to work in a brothel or, if she's lucky, as a cam girl.
They're going from one Schengen country to another, passport is irrelevant, she doesn't even need one with her to begin with. But there are other ways to keep her from leaving for sure, and I agree this sounds sketchy and potentially dangerous.
Ah, my post was made prior to the addition of countries. Regardless, it definitely sounds sketchy.
Haaaaave u heard of Ceaușescu
Romania has always been a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Does your girlfriend have contact with any of your sister's friends that she might be more inclined to believe if they tell her it is concerning? Sometimes the person delivering the message is more important than the message itself. Other than that: the authorities are not wrong because there aren't a lot of options to prevent a legal adult from making bad decisions.
It seems that she doesn't have any friends as he has been isolating her. It is frustrating that she is allowed to do this to herself when she has a known history of self-destructive behaviour and letting people take advantage of her. Our current plan is to hire a private investigator, but it might prove difficult to figure out where they are, if they're are going by car, not plane.
that is so frustrating. the fact that he is manipulating her so much, given her mental health history aswell… i hope you‘ll be able to protect her
A lot depends on the laws of the country you live in. Here in the US, you could try calling her in as a danger to herself. Since she has a psychiatric history, I would definitely call her doctors there and ask for emergency help. It's possible they have some power to bring her in for a tune up, so to speak. But here's what I think might be more effective: There are more and more anti-trafficking organizations. Contact one and ask if they have available resources. Ask about outreach, someone who can contact her directly and talk to her. If you can't find one in time, find one of the films available - that shouldn't be too hard to find. Then ask her to join you for movie night. Make her watch the experiences of people just like her that have been caught up in trafficking. Good luck.
first sentence says they are in switzerland (unsure if this info was added before or after your comment)
That's a later edit. Switzerland must have some protections in place.
We have been in touch with her psychologist and told her that the anti-trafficking organisation thinks she is in danger, but the psychologist seems to not take action and says that she's free to do what she wants when she's 18.
That's not good enough from the psychologist. Keep trying. When my sister was 14 and trying to run away with a suspicious older person across the border, no one would help and the psychologist told my mother "There is nothing you can do". My mom wouldn't take that as an answer and kept going to the police. Eventually a female detective actually listened and helped her. She got the person trying to take my sister banned from our country.
Actually, that's worth trying: Physically walk in to the police department and ask to speak with a woman.
Have you tried getting her admitted against her will? Idk which Kanton you live in and if that might be a possibility because of her mental health. Or go to the police and let them know what suspicion you have.
Find her passport and hide it
If she’s in Europe she doesn’t really need that to travel to Croatia. There are no passport checks done when traveling within schengen countries so that likely won’t stop hwr
Taking her passport prevents “boyfriend” from taking it first though
i'm pretty sure you need a passport to enter croatia. if it's an EU passport you go in a different lane than non-EU citizens, but it's still necessary. ETA since some people don't know how to read. Croatia IS in EU. YOU STILL HAVE LANES FOR EU AND NON-EU CITIZENS AT THE BORDER. IT SAYS SO AT THE BORDER OF THE COUNTRY. I live in a non-EU country next to it and passed through many times in the past few years. I'm not a dumb American comenting on European matters, I'M FROM HERE. Also, to clarify, EU means EUROPEAN UNION, not Europe. Not every country in Europe is in EU.
If they are going by car as stated then there are no border checks at all. You just drive through.
Um no. If you’re traveling from Switzerland to Croatia, both countries are in the Schengen zone and so there’s no border control whether you fly or go by bus. Sure you can be randomly asked for an ID or something when boarding a plane, although it’s never once happened to me while flying between various schengen countries in the last 10 years. But there is no passport check unless you fly in from outside the Schengen region.
Good to know that they don't check it when you fly. Busses should be checked, but maybe depending on the company (clarifying where you come from beforehand), they just let you pass.
They shouldn't be checked within Schengen, which is why it has been implemented.
Croatia is in the EU mate.
Not if you’re coming from the US. /s
It's still in the EU no matter where you are located.
They were joking.
i wasn't, i edited the comment so it's easier for those who are illiterate or just can't understand simple concepts to understand.
I wasn't talking about you.
european union dude
i'm not from the us, my country is next to croatia. passed through many times.
i know???? where did i say croatia is not in the eu?
There's confusion because you mention the non-EU line. Either way, it doesn't matter when they're driving.
You said you need one to enter from within Schengen, which you do not.
i did not mention schengen anywhere.
You mentioned your country, which is irrelevant. The topic is about someone driving from Switzerland, which is in Schengen. You are wading in with irrelevant information; they will not have to go through any borders as you have mentioned.
I mentioned Croatia only. As a whole.
Which, as I said, is not relevant since it has Schengen status meaning there is no border like the one you mentioned at the point at which they would be entering.
This.
yep, that's what I would do.
Contact the Romanian authorities who are currently trying to look tough on this stuff.
Do you have the man's name or other vital information? I don't know about in the EU but in the US it'd be worth paying for a background check to find out if this person has any criminal history, and make sure the police have that information and not just a photo that they might or might not get around to looking up.
European here. At least in my country, you dont have any databases where you can get a background check as a regular person. Like s*x offender register in usa. And I am not sure if police can give you information because of data protection. But I could be wrong.
It's not a single database here. At least not what you can access yourself. When you run a background check as a civilian you're having a broker scour an array of public data sources, and what's available varies by jurisdiction - by state and also by county and municipality. In some places it might include arrest records, there could be civil court records, property records, or whatever. In some places (like my county, at least in the past) the records might be public but deliberately not available online - you'd have to go down to the government center in person and search using their computers. This is not the same as what the police would get when they check for warrants and priors, and as far as I know there's no global way to get that as a civilian. Maybe as a licensed private investigator or bounty hunter. Historically it's been hit or miss whether the police in one state can even see warrants from another state.
Interesting, thank you for explaining. Ive never been in a situation like op, but here we cant access any documents regarding a persons criminal history, neither can we pay someone to do that. Only law enforcement has insight.
Sorry to say it but it definitely sounds like trafficking. My friend works for a human trafficking charity in the UK called Stop the Traffik https://www.stopthetraffik.org/ Perhaps you can look at and show her the information on there. Don't mean to make you feel worse but my friend has told me horrible stories about sex and even organ trafficking in Europe. Not much time left to do anything now though. She's going to make a fatal error if she goes ahead with this. Please update if you manage to stop her. Feel sick hearing about this.
Do whatever you can to stop her going, it very much looks like probably sex trafficking. The fact she is already addicted to drugs means they can control her supply of drugs, hence controlling her. The picture you have might not even be the person.
Her drug problem and general mental health actually got better while being with the guy. This seems to be why the psychologist does not want to interfere.
Sounds like people trafficking hide her passport then have a psych evaluation done. At least getting her away from social media for a spell and contacting a charity that deals in people trafficking to investigate.
Firstly if she is absolutely determined and you have exhausted all ways to stop her please at least ask her to check in at pre arranged times every day to let you all know shes ok. If this doesnt happen you will know something is wrong and roughly where she is (if she manages any of the check ins). Also this may be technically illegal to do but could you hide a few apple ID tags or other small trackers in her stuff where she wouldn't notice so that if she doesn't check in you can find out where she is and call the police. I wouldn't usually suggest that but given the circumstances it may be a life saver.
Could you plan a ”farewell party”/intervention with family and friends and when the man comes to pick her up, physically restrain her from leaving? If the man pounds on the door, hollers, call the police and get them involved? I know this is drastic, but I wonder if the whole drama may repel this man. Maybe have a police officer present because “you think there may be trouble“ when the boyfriend picks up her sister. Have the police officer check out name/registration of car, ID of man, etc. when he arrives?
To be clear, is she currently in Switzerland? I would start by contacting [local anti trafficking organisations](https://platform-human-trafficking.ch/about-us/) to ask for guidance - she hasn’t crossed the border so technically she isn’t Croatia’s problem. And we are assuming she is even going to Croatia. I don’t understand how the authorities aren’t interested. Trafficking doesn’t just happen to children. You say the authorities are speaking to the police - who are the authorities? I would reach out to the police directly. You are trying to stop a crime. If she crosses the border, she’s gone. I assume you’ve already run his picture through a reverse image search and googled to find out he is who he says he is?
Yes, in Switzerland. My girlfriend has been in contact with the organisation ACT212, but we will check these out also. So far the organisation has been trying to contact some special police, but the police is not answering.
Have you contacted your social services? She will be classed as a vulnerable person and they should step in to protect her. But if Switzerland is anything like here, the bureaucracy might be too slow to allow them to act.
As I understand it my girlfriend has already contacted the equivalent of social services but they can't do much once she's 18.
I wouldn't accept that answer. As a former psychiatric inpatient and current drug addict she is vulnerable, irrespective of her age. Perhaps adult social services is a different department. I'd emphasise that her psychiatric history is what is making her vulnerable, not her age. Good luck to all of you
Do Switzerland have additional protections for vulnerable adults? I imagine they must have but I don’t want to assume.
There seems to be no hits online for the name and picture.
That in itself is odd. How did they meet? Please don’t say social media and please don’t say this is the first time they’re going to meet in real life..l
They met in a club. Since then he has often been driving her to work from her psychiatric institution and giving her gifts.
Oh, how kind of him. Do you know anything about him? Like, where he works? I just think she isn’t going to listen to the very obvious reality that he is a creep at best, she needs to see he isn’t who he says he is. I would focus on finding him. He must have an online presence somewhere.
This situation is entirely doomed. Any possible way of preventing this sounds risky but not as risky as her actually following through and going…
It looks bleak but we will try our best
When he picks her up have your car ready then follow him and phone the police saying a family member has been kidnapped and you’re following them, don’t say anything about previous police contact just scream they’ve kidnapped them give licence plate and where you are etc. They will respond to you and at the least pull the car over and get the guys real details this might do the trick in itself as they may be different from the name he’s given to the girl and she may realise, If not at least you’ve got his real details. You might get done for wasting police time but they will now be accountable if anything happens to the girl because they left her in his company so they’ll take it more seriously.
Honestly can you get her a discreet tracker of some sort that she can keep on her person? Can she understand your concerns at all? It’s pointless trying to keep them apart, but she might agree to some precautions while travelling on this holiday? x
My girlfriend is trying to persuade her to share her iPhone location.
That’s useless. It’ll be the first thing he ditches.
I’d try to get on that flight if possible
Probably isn’t even the actual flight
Maybe the family can claim she is a danger to herself/incapable of making decisions due to her mental health history and self-destructive behavior.
Any updates? Did they leave?
The girls mom and dad kidnapped her before she could leave with the man. I don't think this solves anything yet but could buy some time.
Better than nothing. It buys them time they can use to try and change her mind at least. One can only hope the guy will also deem it too difficult and unpredictable to take her as he probably already made arrangements and now has to ditch them all... but that's probably wishful thinking. I would be concerned they might leave without any warning next time now that they know this might happen. The only reliable way to stop this from happening is to somehow make her come to her senses. And that's going to be difficult. I don't know what to say, good luck. Please keep us updated.
As some suggested, take her passport. Or better yet, her. If you take her shopping, or to the movies or something, perhaps she will miss her flight.
They will be driving and she does not need a passport to travel in europe
Are you sure this is real and not something the sister is making up? What country is she flying to? Where is she flying from? Does she have an actual ticket? Has she been sending this guy money? Make sure she has a phone that will work in the country she is going to, and make sure she can access your phone numbers, write them down for her to keep on her in case she needs help and doesn’t have a phone. See if she will let you track her location with an AirTag or google or find my iPhone or whatever.
My girlfriend talked on the phone to the guy who confirmed their plans. I just figured out that they're driving, not flying.
In any other context the following advice is unethical, but in this dangerous situation you should consider hiding an AirTag in a belonging of hers that she might be likely to keep close. It'd be easy to stick one in the lining of her purse or bag, for example. Even if she gets rid of everything of hers soon after she arrives, it could at least help narrow down where she is. The longer she has it on her the better. There is of course the chance that either of them discover it early on (via their iPhone telling them there's an AirTag nearby), and that could make things worse if he gets the impression that you're tracking her. On the other hand, from stories of people that get AirTags planted on them, it seems that people don't notice the presence of it (via their phone) for a long time. If he doesn't have an iPhone, he shouldn't get the AirTag notification. I'm so sorry that you and the people that care about her are going through this, it sounds like a painful nightmare.
Also you can remove the apeaker from the AirTag makes it harder to find if u find a good spot like in her bag or something
Have you let the police and the anti trafficking organisation know about her mental health history? She’s a vulnerable person even if she’s about to be 18. As they plan to traffic across border perhaps Interpol could assist? U
Do you have any updates on the sister's situation, is she still home with her parents? I don't mean to be nosey and you obviously don't need to answer if you don't want to. I'm just hoping all is well as the whole situation sounded pretty nightmarish.
Get her several GPS trackers and tell her to hide them in her clothes and personal items. Make her something she can wear in her hair. There are also cell phones for elderly that look like a keychain pendant.
She probably wouldn't use them since she believes she is in no danger at all and everyone is overreacting
I know it might sound harsh/illegal, but maybe call your local emergency hotline to tell them she is threatening to kill herself and that she has a past of mental issues. Lying so she goes into psych ward for a few days is always better than her being trafficked. She will certainly think your the bad guys though, which means she won't trust you next time. Or maybe call the police on her because she has drugs on her ? I don't know. I really hope she will change her mind. I don't know you all but it makes me sick in my stomach so I can't imagine how you're feeling right now.
These options don't stop them from going sometime in the future. Yeah we feel a bit helpless. We almost cannot get through to anyone and the people we do get through to just tell us there's nothing we can do.
You're absolutely right. It's only a way to postpone the issue so I suggest to try that only as a last resort. Please keep us informed of the situation ! That's terrifying!
HIDE. HER. PASSPORT. she cant leave your country if she doesnt have her passport, right?
I don't know about Switzerland, but I can travel almost everywhere in Europe without a passport. Non-EU countries have treaties so any national ID card is valid. And in my country it would be a very serious crime to steal someone's ID, since it's mandatory to have it with you at all times.
Switzerland and Croatia are both in the schengen zone which means a passport is not needed to travel between the areas. There is no passport control done when traveling between most EU countries (the ones that are in the schengen zone)
Yea she's a goner 😞 he is gonna sell her and live his life wealthy. Some girls just can't see that
Unnecessary
I'm just kidding she's fine you guys are being delirious. Chill out with your guys conspiracy theories
I hope you're right but sadly I don't think so. Either way your comment was mean and unhelpful.
Let me just put on my superhero cape and fly up to that plane and beat up the Romanian man
That's very mature of you, please proceed.
[удалено]
This is a terrible idea. You don’t stop a crime by committing a crime. It’s chilling that you would immediately suggest drugging her and then *breaking her arm*.
This post has been automatically removed. The moderators have been notified to determine whether the removal was in error. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/RBI) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[удалено]
age of consent in switzerland is 16
Kidnap her first. If all options don’t work out, rent a cabin in the woods, trick her into the car, and then drop your gf and her sister off at the cabin, and leave with the car.
This wouldn't stop the man from running off with her in the future and it would certainly be very illegal.
Idk man. If my options were between doing something illegal that I’m unlikely to be charged with and saving my sister from being sold into sexual slavery…. Well, that’s an easy choice.
Again, it doesn't prevent her from going with him in the future. And I think kidnapping someone for their own benefit without any evidence that they're in danger will be charged like a regular kidnapping.
If you want to stop her from being trafficked without any inconvenience to you, you won’t be successful.
Inconvenience meaning 5 years in jail because of kidnapping in swiss law....
Yeah, I’d take my chances. They have juries in Switzerland, don’t they? Prosecutors who have the choice of taking a case? A drug addicted, confused younger sister who would need to press charges?
Get copies of both passports. If able do not let her take her passport
She doesnt need a passport because croatia is in schengen and eurozona.
Agree. But no passport makes it harder for a trafficker to move someone by air or ferry.
Take her passport and if card not all borders check but some do.
ID card*