‘You could end up being charged’: Authorities warn of dangerous social media trend

By Zoe Blair

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    TUSCALOOSA, Alabama (WVTM) — Tuscaloosa County authorities held a news conference Wednesday to warn citizens of the dangers of participating in the ‘Catch a Predator’ social media trend.

In the trend, people pose as minors online, lure potential child predators to a location and then confront them, sometimes assaulting them. Then, often, they post a video of the confrontation on social media.

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy called the trend “vigilante” justice.

Other leaders agreed, saying this trend can interfere with real, ongoing investigations.

“I want to emphasize that this is a full-time task force, we constantly have investigations going, and I would be really, really upset if we had been spending a lot of time working on a particular predator and somebody messed that up,” Phil Simpson, commander of the Human Trafficking Division said. “Please do not try to conduct these investigations on your own. Please help us protect the children; help us protect the public.”

Simpson said the trend seems to be inspired by television shows like “To Catch a Predator.” He also said what you see on TV isn’t always as easy as it seems.

“The shows do not show the complexity of the investigation that went into it for that person to be sitting at the table,” Simpson said. “It’s not a simple operation, but it looks like it on TV, and people see it on TV and think, ‘Hey, I can do that.’ They also see it on TikTok and Instagram and other social media places and think, ‘I’m smart enough to do that, I can talk to this person.'”

The leaders are emphasizing that not only is participating in this trend dangerous, it’s also illegal.

“You confine a person unlawfully, then that is the definition of unlawful imprisonment, and you could end up being charged with that crime simply by infringing upon their freedom to move,” Simpson said. “Harassment charges can be brought, and what we’re seeing a lot of times in these videos is felony-level assaults, and that’s not insignificant.”

The Sheriff’s office confirmed they have seen at least one incident of this trend taking place in Tuscaloosa recently, but no further details have been released.

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