Migrant Smugglers Use TikTok as Recruitment Tool
Smugglers are using social media apps like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat to anonymously recruit Americans to finish the last leg of a migrant’s trip into the U.S. after they just crossed the U.S. border illegally.
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Smugglers are using social media apps like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat to anonymously recruit Americans to finish the last leg of a migrant’s trip into the U.S. after they just crossed the U.S. border illegally, reports Alicia A. Caldwell for the Wall Street Journal. Posts, which often appear only briefly, use emojis featuring dollar signs, bundles of cash and smiley faces and promise big money for easy work with little risk.
Border patrol officials say that roughly 90 percent of the drivers they stop are admitting that they were recruited through social media after being promised hundreds or thousands of dollars for just a few hours of driving. Drivers recruited through social media don’t know whom they are working for and can’t provide information on the smuggling groups if they are arrested. In addition, some are under 18, making any legal punishment they might face lighter.
