January 2025: sex traffic scammer in Meaningful

Man in his 30s contacted me about possible online scammers. He sent me the usual information I could work with and using the new IP address locator I found the address in Southern California. I had a bit of running around to do because it turned out they were using the gas stations wifi across the street from their apartment so it kept popping up as a gas station. I also got another cell phone number that I linked up with a name, which in return I matched with the address of the apartment across the street and verified the two scammers lived together. I also ran special image searches with pics and found them elsewhere online but what I was proving and finding was the woman claiming to be sex trafficked was real but also that she did this with other guys too. My client was disappointed but wanted to follow through with more. Once I provided all my verified information to him and laid out options for getting money back and so on, he ultimately just wanted to stop this scammer from hurting other men. With that said I filed official reports and complaints with all the top authorities and watchdogs and me and the client exposed he woman. She never denied anything after we busted her, in fact she was very honest and actually bragged about it. I appreciate her honesty and felt bad for her rough childhood trauma that led her to this way of life. Her business accomplice in California who ran the logistics and financial side turned out to be a college guy just needing extra money to pay bills while in school. I always have to keep my judgment in check at the start of investigations because a lot of times by the end I understand and see why people do bad things and I don’t feel as negatively towards them. It’s so easy to take the clients side and attitudes and get caught up in everything. Idk, I’ve gotten use to looking into more of the circumstances these people end up doing things to hurt others for profit.