Human trafficking is a global problem and one of the most heinous crimes there are. In Buenos Aires (Argentina) a bill was found with a message from a kidnapped young lady requesting help: “Hello, I’m in a place called Los Herreras, One-Eyed Luis has held me for over 3 years, please mom help me I miss you so much, my name is Gabriela Suárez”. It just so happens that the information in the bill matched with the last known whereabouts of a girl known to have disappeared in the mentioned argentine locale.
At the Dirección General de Registro de Personas Desaparecidas of the city of Buenos Aires (Local Missing Person Office) there were records of a “Suárez Chavez, Abigail Gabriela”, around 20 years old, filed as missing on April the 15th of 2012 around Gutierrez, Berazategui. The clothes she was wearing at the moment of disappearance were described in detail and her physical features are mentioned: Robust constitution, 1.57m tall, thin, around 58 kg in weight, green eyes, white skin, long light hazel hair. When such concrete data is had, the security forces leap into action, in this case it was Protex (Procuraduría de Trata y Explotacion de Personas) (Human Trafficking and exploitation Task Force).
From what was written on the bill other 2 key pieces of info could be drawn: One is the place called Los Herrera, located in the Tucumán province, south of the capital, in route 306. The other is the name of who would allegedly have kidnapped and held the young woman captive along with his known nickname, a clue vital for finding someone in a small province town.
Those words written on a 10 pesos’ bill raised hundreds of concerned remarks on social media and the picture of the bill went viral as it was shared massively creating widespread concern and distress among those who had seen it.
After getting words of the case, the investigation started immediately, but nothing about the authenticity of the bill was known since there had been other instances in which similar messages appeared in bills with no positive results. Finally, after social media had made the story go viral, it could be proven that Gabriela Suarez’s cry for help was a fake one. In a press note, it was informed that Abigail Gabriela Suarez Chavez had been missing in April of 2012 but she had been found a few days later with no signs of having been victim of the crime of Human Trafficking. In that opportunity, the search started due to a missing person report made to the Comisaria de la mujer y la Familia.
Contact could be made with the young lady who, because of the great reach her case had grasped thanks to social media, assisted to the Registro de Personas Desaparecidas (Missing People Registry) headquarters of the Buenos Aires province where she stated her well-being and requested her personal data and her family’s to stop being spread for her and her close ones’ safety.
It can be stated then, that social media represents a great danger that can affect a community’s life, as it can generate false information and thus, needless alarm and fear.
ALFA