Rubmaps representatives did not return requests for comment.īut there’s little doubt about the web site’s focus on sex-themed adventure. The site also claims that it “has zero tolerance for underage prostitution and/or any type of sexual acts between unconsenting individuals, which includes sex trafficking.” An online company statement maintains that the website is “100% user-generated,’’ and it is unknown whether reviews or addresses are accurate. The site, registered to a Georgios Veniaminidis based in Cyprus, is careful to distance itself from illegal activities. Launched in 2010,, a site with the tagline “Where fantasy meets reality,” gets hundreds of thousands of visitors each month, according to the marketing firm, making it likely the most popular John board dedicated to erotic massage. In the end, he only stopped because his wife caught him. “Rubmaps took the guessing out of it,’’ he said. He would have done it anyway, he said, but the internet made it much easier. One sex buyer, a Boston-area businessman who requested anonymity to protect his family’s privacy, described spending tens of thousands of dollars on illicit massage parlors all over the world. For example, cases of forced sex and forced labor reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline increased by 35.7 percent in 2016 alone, ticking up to 7,572. Indeed, the internet has been a boon for human trafficking generally, allowing sellers to easily and discreetly reach buyers without attracting attention. “We know they are all over the place,’’ Gavin said. But they have to be selective because investigations can be labor intensive, she said. The New England Center’s efforts to reach alleged victims from recent busts proved unsuccessful.ĭonna Gavin, head of the human trafficking unit for the Boston Police Department, said police scrutinize review boards during investigations when they get tips about problematic addresses. After being questioned, they often leave the state. The women, many of them fearful of deportation and unable to speak English, often make reluctant and poor witnesses. But even when law enforcement moves against erotic massage parlors, conviction of alleged traffickers is no slam dunk. Healey said her office will continue to go after the massage businesses described on the review boards. Why is police action so rare? and The women behind closed doors and The men who fuel the erotic massage industry.
Related: Read the first three stories of the five-part series: Illicit massage parlors are across Massachusetts. State and local officials say they don’t want simply to arrest women workers - who are increasingly considered victims - but take down the business operators who often run multiple storefronts. Shutting them down is not as simple as rounding up the men and women in the massage parlor.
That’s because of the sheer number of businesses and the legal resources needed to take each one down. The now-closed Hadley Massage Therapy is one of hundreds of erotic massage centers described on in Massachusetts alone - and there are some 7,000 nationwide.īut, even though law enforcement officials can easily find other suspected sex trafficking operations on and other so-called “John boards,” listings on these sites seldom lead to prosecution. “It’s terrible, their depiction of women … It’s just truly appalling.” “These are reviews on victims of human trafficking,’’ said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, whose office led the investigation into the alleged sex traffickers who ran centers in Hadley, East Longmeadow and Framingham. On a controversial website called, they described their sexual experiences in detail, including how much they paid, what services they received and their level of satisfaction with the women’s performance. The customers themselves led law enforcement to the address in 2016, by writing detailed reviews of the services they received at Hadley Massage Therapy - services that went far beyond massage. Prosecutors painted a squalid picture of what went on inside the little house on busy Russell Street: The Asian women were kept there night and day, providing sexual services for a fee, sleeping where they worked and rarely venturing outside except to take out the trash.
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