"If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."
That's what sports reporter and ex-NFL cheerleader Brittney Cason thought after months of being pursued by a man who said he was a talent agent but, authorities suspect, was a sex trafficker.
Cason explains on XOJane.com that a man claiming to be a Hollywood talent agent was interested in recruiting her to be a correspondent for the Sochi Olympics.
"Given my background in sports broadcasting hosting a nationally syndicated motorsports show and working on sports talk radio, it made sense he was recruiting me," Cason wrote.
After four months, the supposed talent agent sent her an application for a work visa, but then he asked Cason something that made her suspicious.
He said he needed to expand his team of correspondents and asked if she knew anyone else who would fit the bill. She made some recommendations and, Cason said, he immediately gave them the green light.
"I spent four months applying and interviewing and he’s sending my friend a work visa without even seeing her work?" Cason wrote. "Now, my friend is really talented, but wanting her passport and social security number before her reel just seemed fishy to me."
That's when Cason decided to do more digging and eventually got authorities involved. There is now, Cason said, a case pending against the man, who she did not name.
Cason said the FBI suspects the man was actually a human trafficker looking to cash in on the lucrative market that is especially profitable during the Olympics.
The FBI said it does not comment on pending cases and would not confirm or deny whether Cason's case was under investigation, according to WFNZ.
Cason told the station she came dangerously close to putting herself in harm's way.
"That’s what so scary,” Cason said. “The amount of effort he put into making this seem legit. I rearranged my whole life, my suitcase was packed. I had adapters, I bought new coats, everything.”
Cason is now working with anti-human trafficking organization All We Want Is L.O.V.E. and said she hopes others will learn from her experience.
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