Kamloops Escort Agency Accused of Recruiting Teenagers via Facebook

Feb. 6, 2013: An escort agency in Kamloops is allegedly under fire for approaching teenage girls as part of its recruitment process.

The news broke out Tuesday when a 17-year-old Kamloops girl revealed that she was contacted by ‘Angels After Dark,’ an escort agency operating in Kamloops. The youth informed reporters, on conditions of anonymity, that she initially did not respond to the messages, but when some of her friends did, the agency inquired whether they were underage. When the girls admitted to being underage, the agency asked if they had any legally-aged friends who wanted to make up to $500 a day.

“I posted a status just asking has anyone else been poked or messaged, and I immediately got like five or six girls saying, ‘Yeah, they poked me,’ and more friends even saying, like, they got messaged personally,” the youth informed reporters.

She further added, “I told my mom about it and asked ‘What’s an escort service?’ and she immediately became aware and worried about it. Like, why me? I’m 17-years-old and I don’t really want to see that stuff.”

Consequently the agency’s Facebook profile has been taken down while the website is still up. Moreover, a city official from Kamloops says the city has no record of ‘Angels After Dark’ having a business license, which implies that the agency is operating illegally, according to news reports.

Planning/Development Manager Randy Lambright spoke to reporters saying such agencies generally don’t have business addresses and frequently operate under the radar from out-of-town locations.

“We’ve tried to appeal to get some assistance, not necessarily agencies to gain compliance with the business-license bylaw. We’ve had almost zero luck,” he added.

Written by Garima Goswami, Assistant Editor for DARPAN Magazine

Image Courtesy of guardian.co.uk