A woman is sending a warning about a sex trafficking tactic after being approached by two men at different gas stations.
Blaze TV and YouTube host Sara Gonzales (@saragonzalestx) shared a TikTok detailing her experiences at two separate gas stations and encouraging women to stay on their guard.
“I have a PSA for all the ladies out there. So, twice in the last month I have been approached by two different men in two different cities at two different gas stations, asking me for help with their credit card at the gas pump,” Sara begins in the video.
She explains how she tried to help the first man.
“Now the first one, I actually tried to very quickly tell him ‘Well, you just put your credit card in and when it tells you to remove it, you remove it.’”
The man immediately asked Sara to come with him to his car for further instruction.
“And that wasn’t good enough, he asked me to follow him over to his car so I could physically show him how to do it,” she recounts.
“What grown-a** adult do you know who owns a car, who doesn’t understand how you use your credit card to get gas?” she questions.
Sara soon learned that the coincidence of receiving such a strange request twice possibly had a more sinister explanation.
“I asked my friend who actually fights sex trafficking with his organization and he said ‘Yes, this is happening to women at gas stations at an accelerated rate,” she says.
In addition to sex trafficking attempts, Sara’s friend tells her that similar approaches are being used at gas stations to commit various kinds of crimes.
“Not only is the trafficking happening, but of course other robberies, theft, things of that nature because we are women and we’re obviously more vulnerable.”
As the video ends, Sara sends one more warning: “So keep your head on a swivel, watch your six, always be locked and loaded, and be careful out there ladies.”
@saragonzalestx PSA to the ladies. Beware at gas pumps… #fyp #tips
♬ original sound – saragonzalestx
The video had 636,000 views as of Tuesday morning.
In the comments, users shared similar stories of being approached by men at gas stations.
“This happened to me too! I just glared at him until he turned around and drove off angrily with his gas cap open. I am not the one sir,” one woman shared.
“I had this happen to me. It felt so sketchy. I told the guy to get help from the counter. I had a gross feeling for hours after,” another user explained.
Other viewers offered advice for how to navigate gas stations and stay out of danger.
“My dad always told me that if a man genuinely needs help, he is not going to ask a random woman,” one viewer offered.
“Also always turn off the engine, take keys, and lock the doors while getting gas. They will steal your purse if you leave it unlocked,” advised a second user.
“I would tell them no and to go ask the gas station employee for help. The walk away,” a third person shared.
Several commenters weren’t convinced by Sara’s story, a few claiming it never happened at all.
“The vast majority of sex trafficking of women does not involve strangers, or abduction. These kinds of urban legends perpetuate myths,” on commenter declared.
“Most women would just tell them to get help from the people inside. But this was a TikTok moment, huh?” a second user pressed.
“Please show me one news story referencing this. It does not exist. Never happened,” came another doubtful response.
The skepticism of some viewers is likely influenced by a growing trend on TikTok, where TikTokers share sex trafficking attempts and other personal stories of danger or harm with the stated goal of warning others. These stories, many half-truths or even completely fabricated, work to scare viewers and can misinform them on how sex trafficking operates in the United States.
In another TikTok, feminist author and columnist Jessica Valenti (@auntiekilljoy) addresses the “sex trafficking myths” that are widespread on the app, saying that many of the personal anecdote TikToks about sex trafficking are full of “scare tactics” and “misinformation.”
“I promise you, no one is trying to sex traffic you in a Target parking lot. That’s not how sex trafficking works,” she begins.
Jessica explains that the mass majority of sex trafficking victims actually know their trafficker.
“You’re talking about people’s boyfriends, people’s family members, their employers sometimes, and this is something that happens over a long course of time. People are groomed into sex trafficking, they’re generally not grabbed off the street.”
Jessica also explains that victims of sex trafficking also tend to be part of marginalized communities—“women of color, undocumented immigrants, runaways, substance abusers, people without homes”—and are typically not “middle class white women who are grabbed from Target parking lots.”
Jessica offers that what women who may have felt they were at risk of self trafficking might have actually been confronting was the very real, very common threat of harassment and physical violence faced by women as they navigate public spaces in the U.S.
“A lot of the videos I’ve seen where people are describing what they say is a sex trafficking attempt seem to me to be more likely run-of-the-mill harassment, potential sexual assault, creepy f*cking things that men do to women and creepy ways that men make women feel all the time.”
While Jessica notes that “bad things happen to women all of the time” and that women’s hyper-vigilance is warranted, it doesn’t mean they are experiencing a sex trafficking attempt.
“Women are looking for validation and an explanation for the really horrific everyday harassment that they face and the unsafe way that they feel in this country, which is understandable and reasonable and valid. But it doesn’t make it sex trafficking.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Sara via TikTok message for more information.