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Cook
County Sheriff Thomas Dart said that "escort" ads on
Backpage.com and similar classified advertising sites make up
the foundation of a sex-trafficking industry that preys on the
young and vulnerable.
Earlier this week, he asked both Visa and MasterCard to cut off
any association with the Backpage.com "adult" section.
"Visa's rules prohibit our network from being used for illegal
activity," spokesman John Earnhardt said in a statement on
Wednesday. "Visa has a long history of working with law
enforcement to safeguard the integrity of the payment system and
we will continue to do so."
MasterCard spokesman Seth Eisen said on Tuesday the company
agreed to stop allowing the card to be used on Backpage.
American Express had previously disallowed the use of its card
for adult ads on the site, said spokeswoman Sanette Chao.
This leaves only Bitcoin, an electronic currency, to pay for
Backpage adult ads, which Dart said will make placing the ads
much more difficult.
"We have no naive notion that we'll end prostitution, end
trafficking, end exploitation of children," Dart said. "What
we've wanted all along is to make it more difficult and make
(traffickers) easier to catch."
Liz McDougall, Backpage's general counsel, said in an e-mail on
Wednesday the company had no comment.
Backpage offers forums to find roommates and sell goods, like
other classified advertising sites, but its primary revenue
stream is through its adult page, according to Dart's office.
Cook County Sheriff's police have made more than 800 arrests
since 2009 stemming from Backpage ads, Dart's office said.
"We commend these credit card companies for making it more
challenging for traffickers to profit off of the exploitation of
people," said Bradley Myles, CEO of Polaris, a Washington-based
anti-trafficking group.
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Will Dunham)
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