People trafficking warning

[snopes]

Comment: BEWARE! This happened to my daughter Sarah and her two
girlfriends last week and was told about just today!! Girls were at
McDonalds on Moorpark Rd and Janns Rd around 9:00pm. A short spanish lady
sweating and nervous asked the girls if they would go get the brief case
across the street for her by the corner of the gas station. The girls said
no and then she offered them each $100.00 to do it. The girls looked and
saw the briefcase next to a white van. The girls said no why don't you get
it yourself ? The lady said I can't and whispered on her cell phone and
walked out the back door and left. Then this guy immedialty walked in to
the Mc Donald's and stared at the girls and walked out and walked in again
and did the same stare and walk out. Sarah and her friends just left
feeling freaked out.. Girls did not call 911... Girls did not report to a
parent until yesterday.. Please spread the word to other parents.
When Sarah told me this story today in Target I wanted to Throw Up and
pass out. Now I'm freaked out for her to leave my side... SO SCARY! And
what these people are doing is people trafficking. Watch your kids closer
it was a close call for my baby girl.. Because it happend a week ago
the police will not do a police report. Calling the school district on
this.

[marrya]

Wait... How does she know it's people trafficking, and not rape and murder?
Not that that's any better, of course.

[queen of the caramels]

I was thinking drug dealing.

[mags]

So, the real question is... How did they know the sweaty woman was from Spain?

[UEL]

Originally Posted by mags

So, the real question is... How did they know the sweaty woman was from Spain?

Barcelona FC pin in her hat.

[Skeptic]

Originally Posted by UEL

Barcelona FC pin in her hat.

I worked with a girl from Barcelona, but she gave her nationality as Catalan, not Spanish. It's a touchy subject with them.

[UEL]

I flip-flopped on Barcelona FC and Real Madrid. I should have avoided my gut instinct.

To be honest, I know next to nothing of Spain, aside from a general understanding of Conquistadors, the Spanish Civil War and the Penninsula Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. My knowledge is all historical and based largely upon a rather homogeneous Spanish identity.

This is twice I've goofed on Spanish ethnic understanding in the past few months (or more sadly, twice in two conversations involving Spain). I'm off to do some reading.

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by snopes

When Sarah told me this story today in Target I wanted to Throw Up and pass out.

What I don't get is why being told this would make you want to throw up?

I can understand being upset, scared or worried, but actually making you want to throw up?

Some people take things litterally too far!

ETA: Also... why the Caps on "Throw Up"

[GenYus234]

Actually, she was buying a DVD of a Pixar film about an old man and a boy going on a fantastic adventure in a balloon house. When she was told about it, she wanted to throw the DVD because she was so mad.

[Photo Bob]

Now that was good.

GenYus, I tip my hat to you.

Put a couple bucks in it and I'll leave you alone.

[snopes]

Amusingly enough, although no location information is provided in this warning other than a couple of street names, I know exactly where this references -- it's near us, just a couple of blocks from the house I grew up in.

First of all, there's no gas station "across the street" from the McDonald's at that location; they're adjacent businesses in the same shopping center. Second, this intersection is in Thousand Oaks, which regularly ranks near the top of the list of safest cities in the U.S. I seriously doubt human trafficking gangs are working out of shopping center parking lots in Thousand Oaks.

A short spanish lady sweating and nervous asked the girls if they would go get the brief case
across the street for her by the corner of the gas station.

Why is she "sweating and nervous"? She's the alleged perpetrator, not the victim.

This sounds to me more like the woman had a fight with her boyfriend and was trying to enlist someone to go retrieve a possession from him.

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

Actually, she was buying a DVD of a Pixar film about an old man and a boy going on a fantastic adventure in a balloon house. When she was told about it, she wanted to throw the DVD because she was so mad.

You've covered the cap on the word Up, now let's see you explain the word Throw...

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by Alarm

What I don't get is why being told this would make you want to throw up?

I can understand being upset, scared or worried, but actually making you want to throw up?

Some people take things litterally too far!

ETA: Also... why the Caps on "Throw Up"

Physical danger can go right to some people's stomachs. It's not that unusual, is it?

[GenYus234]

It is across the driveway from the McDonald's. Maybe the sheer terror damaged the writer's vocabulary.

The fight thing does sound more reasonable, but that still isn't safe for a bystander to do.

[snopes]

Originally Posted by GenYus234

The fight thing does sound more reasonable, but that still isn't safe for a bystander to do.

If it were safe, it wouldn't be worth $100 each!

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by snopes

Girls did not report to a parent until yesterday.. Please spread the word to other parents.
When Sarah told me this story today in Target I wanted to Throw Up and
pass out. Now I'm freaked out for her to leave my side... SO SCARY! And
what these people are doing is people trafficking. Watch your kids closer
it was a close call for my baby girl.. Because it happend a week agothe police will not do a police report. Calling the school district on
this.

Originally Posted by Gayle

Physical danger can go right to some people's stomachs. It's not that unusual, is it?

Underlining mine.

It happened a week ago... she's now in Target, not at the McDonald's where this happened. How is there "physical danger"?
The danger was a week ago, when the "trafficer" was threathening her daughter.

[snopes]

Because it happend a week ago the police will not do a police report.

Here's an example of the kind of stuff typically found on the sheriff's blotter for Thousand Oaks:

A 29-year-old man was arrested and a 34-year-old man cited for selling fertilizer door to door without a city permit in the 1300 block of Calle de Oro.

Dangerous criminals, indeed.

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by Alarm

Underlining mine.

It happened a week ago... she's now in Target, not at the McDonald's where this happened. How is there "physical danger"?
The danger was a week ago, when the "trafficer" was threathening her daughter.

Even hearing about it can cause a physical reaction in some people. Really. My ex-husband and I are both like that. We were out for coffee and ice cream one night with a couple of friends. The friend told a story about losing a toenail a few years back. I quit eating immediately. The Ex-Creep got up at the end of the story to use the restroom. He passed out and cut his head open. We went to the emergency room where his pulse remained around 50 for a couple of hours. The ER physician said even hearing about a grisly story can affect some people physically.

[Chloe]

Count me as someone else who'd probably throw up if I learned that someone very close to me had narrowly escaped something very nasty, even a week earlier. The thought of what could have happened would go right to my stomach.

I don't know if there's any validity to the OP, but the throwing up part rang true.

[Alarm]

Originally Posted by Gayle

Even hearing about it can cause a physical reaction in some people. Really. My ex-husband and I are both like that. We were out for coffee and ice cream one night with a couple of friends. The friend told a story about losing a toenail a few years back. I quit eating immediately. The Ex-Creep got up at the end of the story to use the restroom. He passed out and cut his head open. We went to the emergency room where his pulse remained around 50 for a couple of hours. The ER physician said even hearing about a grisly story can affect some people physically.

But there was nothing grisly about the story, is my point: Woman asked lady in OP's daughter to do something, dauhgter refused. Man came and acted suspicious, then left.

No hacked bodies, no violent beatings. Just a mere suggestion of something criminal.

They could have been selling fakes of Prada purses, it could have been trying to get the girls to be mules in a drug deal. There is nothing in the OP to specifically suggest that a gruesome end would have resulted. Unless there's more details, I don't see why she felt ill

And I also don't take gruesome details well, and will often have fainting spells, low-blood pressure and headaches for hours after.