According to New York’s Department of Criminal Justice Services, the state has some of the most comprehensive human trafficking laws in the country. Still, authorities and neighbors are on high alert for potential victims and recent social media trends have made it harder to distinguish fact from fiction.  

One night in East Fishkill, a social media hoax caused to panic in the community. 

“When I first got the email, I was a little freaked out. I immediately told my older, younger brother that I was going with him. I wasn't going by myself,” said Makenzie Dixon, a 19-year-old college student studying criminology. 

The East Fishkill Powerhouse sent an email to its members about a possible sex trafficking mark found one evening in their parking lot. Brian Vigorita, the gym manager, says he found out about the incident when a parent flagged him about a zip tie left on the door handle of her son’s car. For the sake of his gym members' safety, they issued a warning to the community about the incident. 

He was informed by the mother of a minor who had left the gym the night before after a workout. While a zip tie on the handle of a car door may seem random, it’s said to be a technique used to target potential victims. When a potential victim comes in contact with a foreign substance on their vehicle and touches it, they then can become incapacitated and abducted. 

“It was a little scary to think that something like that could happen in this area,” said Vigorita. 

According to the Department of Homeland Security, human trafficking can be interpreted as modern-day slavery or forced labor. An offshoot of that is sex trafficking, or when an individual is forced into commercial acts of sex. According to the United Nations, in 2021 nearly 30 million people around the world were estimated to have been involved in human trafficking, with 6.3 million of them believed to have been involved in sex trafficking.

Given the stakes, the gym’s alert email was forwarded and shared over social media, leaving local police in East Fishkill inundated with calls from concerned community members. 

Vigorita says the police department called him and informed him this particular instance was likely a viral Tiktok hoax and that gym-goers had nothing to worry about. The police department did not respond when asked for comment. While law enforcement believes this is a false alarm, the trend on Tiktok is showing up around the country. 

That's a sigh of relief for young women like Dixon, but a sign on how community members are on high alert. According to the American Psychological Association, seven out of 10 human trafficking victims are women.

“It sucks that we had to think that way, but definitely have to think a little more cautiously now, I guess,” said Dixon.