You can buy a vulnerable person that's for sale on the internet.

and all the social media has poured jet fuel on a bonfire.

During our series on sex trafficking of minors in America, we learned much of this i happening through social media.

But how?

You can be lured in by a predator who's pretending to be 14 years old, He might convince her to expose herself and send her a send him a picture.

now he can control her.

And, tell her I'm going to publish these pictures everywhere.

unless you do exactly what I say.

So how does one combat that?

Definitely not give out information about themselve and definitely not meet anybody in person that they've met online.

Even children that come from a intact, healthy, loving, protective family if they're at the age where they have a social media account, where they're online in any way, shape or form, they are, by definition, vulnerable.

raise your kids to be strong, confident, and aware as to the dangers and the tactics that are out there.

guard your children's computer and internet with vigilance.

Now making matters even worse, California's child sex trafficking laws are contradictory.

we have said that if you're 16 and older and a buyer is is is buying you for sex, then it's a misdemeanor.

If you're 15 and younger, it's a felon and it's much stiffer penalties.

I'm not sure how we're as a society, we get to this place that if you're 16, you can now consent on some leve with someone who's 38 years old and it's just a misdemeanor, a slap on the wrist.

Now, in our final episode, we'll meet people helping kids who've been trafficked.

And we'll learn how Grace became a survivor.

For PBS SoCal, I'm Bonnie Boswell.