From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbe/fall prey to somebody/somethingbe/fall prey to somebody/somethingSUFFERif someone falls prey to someone or something bad, they are harmed or affected by them Street children in this part of the world often fall prey to drug dealers. They are prey to nameless fears. → prey
Examples from the Corpus
be/fall prey to somebody/something• The magnificent castle was doomed to fall prey to the hand of desolation.• It really seems as if some drivers fall prey to a death wish when freezing fog descends.• All these animals, and others, had fallen prey to the apprentice hunters.• Now, once again, the thin reed of refugee protection has fallen prey to the winds of political expediency.• After a convincing win in game 1 Kasparov fell prey to overconfidence, losing games 4 and 5.• These refugees fell prey to marauding gangs, even to troopers, or to one another.• With aid supplies almost always out of reach, the boys became weak, and stragglers fell prey to wild animals.• The older trees grow spindly and, their immune systems weakened, fall prey to infestation of beetles and disease. 