How You Can Help In The Fight Against Human Trafficking

By a Biometrica staffer

Anyone can, potentially, help in the battle against human trafficking. How? One possible place to start is by learning and researching on spotting some typical signs and indicators of this tragic crime. So, if you happen to come across someone you think may be a victim of trafficking, you can alert the authorities.

That said, at the very outset, it’s important for us to address a few key aspects. One, while learning the signs is definitely a good place to begin, in order to be better equipped to make an informed, unbiased decision to report a potential trafficking situation, we would urge you to learn how trafficking really happens on the ground, by reading and listening to victims and survivors through organizations like Polaris.

Another crucial aspect to consider is that not all human trafficking situations may have visible signs or indicators. So, in some cases, it may be near-impossible for someone who doesn’t know the victim well to spot the signs by just happening to pass by, for instance.

The third crucial point to remember is: Once you have learnt about the typical indicators and the reality of human trafficking cases, and perhaps come across a potential situation, the best course of action is to alert law enforcement and not to try and rescue the victim on your own, or involve yourself on the ground in any other manner.

As we come to a close of this year’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month, we take you through the various signs that experts have listed as possible red flags of trafficking, so you can begin to equip yourself to do your bit in the battle against it.

Note: If you are a human trafficking victim or if you have information about a potential trafficking situation, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733. This national, toll-free hotline has specialists available to answer calls from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also submit a tip at humantraffickinghotline.org.
For urgent situations, notify local law enforcement immediately by calling 911, and also alert the National Human Trafficking Hotline.

Human Trafficking In The U.S.

Each year, several children and adults are trafficked worldwide. There were over 1,675 pending FBI cases as of this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Springfield division said in a statement. In fiscal year 2022, the FBI initiated 668 human trafficking investigations.

It’s also important to note that these cases were not restricted to specific geographies within the United States. All 56 FBI field offices have reported incidents, the FBI Springfield statement adds.

The largest percentage and greatest number of sex trafficking victims recovered in the United States are U.S. citizens, the statement continues. Conversely, the largest percentage of labor trafficking victims recovered in the U.S. are non-U.S. citizens.

About 90% of the FBI’s human trafficking cases involve sex trafficking, while the remainder involves labor trafficking. However, the FBI cautions that there may be a greater number of victims of labor trafficking.

“Human trafficking isn’t always a violent crime—but it is always a devastating crime that is happening with shocking frequency right here in the United States,” FBI Springfield Field Office Special Agent in Charge David Nanz said in the statement.

Human Trafficking Red Flags

It’s not possible to create an exhaustive list of the signs, indicators, or describe the realities of human trafficking cases. However, we’ve combed through various sources — including the U.S. Department of State, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, the National Human Trafficking Hotline, Polaris, and Chains Interrupted — to try and give you as detailed a perspective as we can.

Before we get into the typical indicators to look out for, it’s important, again, to stress that learning to recognize these signs is only an introduction to how human trafficking takes place. And, if you do spot any one of these signs, it may not necessarily mean you’ve stumbled upon someone being trafficked.

For example, the fact that a person is living with their employer need not necessarily be a sign of labor trafficking. However, if someone is living with their employer in what appears to be an unsuitable condition, appears to have no personal possessions, appears to be kept isolated, isn’t allowed to interact with anyone without ‘supervision,’ and doesn’t have their own identification and travel documents, there’s a high possibility that they are being trafficked.

It’s also worthy to note that not all human trafficking involves physical abuse, or signs of it, or sexual abuse. We also have to pause to say that while human trafficking can, indeed, happen to anyone, anywhere, there are certain people that are definitely more vulnerable to it than others. We’ll address that and discuss types of trafficking in a separate piece.

For now, here’s a list of indicators compiled from across the sources we mentioned above (listed in question form).

Labor Trafficking Indicators

• Living and working conditions:
  Is the person living with their employer?
  Do their living conditions seem poor or inadequate?
  Are there multiple people living in a cramped space?
  Are there locks on the outside, rather than the inside, of where they are living?
  Are they cut off from interacting with others and kept isolated?
  Are they allowed to, and/or given, access to food, water, medical care, and other life necessities?
  Does it appear like they have, or are allowed to have, any personal possessions?
  Do they show signs of having been denied food, water, sleep, or medical care?
  Are they being pressured to work in dangerous conditions without proper safety gear, other protection, training, adequate breaks, etc?
• Monitored and controlled:
  Are they constantly watched, or being guarded, by someone?
  Are they often (or always) seen only in the company of someone to whom they defer, or to someone who seems to be in control of the situation?
  Does it seem like they’ve been coached on what to say?
  Is the person fearful, timid, or submissive?
  Are they allowed to move freely? Can they freely leave where they live?
  Are they allowed to speak with family members, friends, or be in contact with other members of their community?
  Was the victim recruited for a particular purpose but is now being forced to do something else instead?
  Do they appear to have unreasonable duties/expectations?
  Do they work excessively, and unreasonably, long hours, and particularly so after dark?
• Wages and documents:
  Are they in possession of their own travel papers and other documents?
  Are their wages being used to “pay off a debt or a fee?”
  Are they allowed to access their own bank accounts, and allowed to be in control of their money?
  Have they been threatened with deportation or criminal charges by their employer?

Sex Trafficking Indicators

• Behavior change:
  Has a person, adult or child, had a sudden and, perhaps, dramatic change in behavior?
  If it’s a child, has the child stopped attending school?
  Similarly, if it’s an adult who had a job, have they suddenly stopped going to work?
  Are they disoriented or confused, or showing signs of mental or physical abuse?
  As with cases of labor trafficking, do they appear fearful, timid, or submissive?
  Are they transported under supervision or with guards between where they live and their workplace?
  Does it appear that they have someone controlling or monitoring them constantly?
  If they appear to be controlled, are they kept isolated and not allowed to interact with others?
• The more obvious signs:
  Does the child or adult appear to have bruises, in various stages of healing?
  Is the person, adult or child, being forced to perform sexual acts?
  Do they want to stop participating in commercial sex activities, but feel scared or are unable to get out of the situation?
  Have they disclosed to you, or to someone else, that they were pressured into engaging in commercial sex acts?
  Do they (especially child victims) seem to have a pimp or a manager in the commercial sex industry?
  Do they work in industries where it may be more common to be pressured into performing sex acts for money, like strip clubs, illicit cantinas, illicit massage parlors etc?
  Important note: If the victim is a child under the age of 18, and involved in commercial sex, they are legally considered a victim of trafficking. While for any other case of trafficking, force, fraud or coercion must be present, child victims involved in commercial sex are the exception to the rule. Under federal law, there’s no such thing as child prostitute.

Some labor trafficking indicators may also apply to instances of sex trafficking, and vice versa. Each case is unique.

Where To Get Help

The State Government website says: “If you believe you have identified someone still in the trafficking situation, alert law enforcement immediately. It may be unsafe to attempt to rescue a trafficking victim. You have no way of knowing how the trafficker may react and retaliate against the victim and you.”

“If, however, you identify a victim who has escaped the trafficking situation, there are a number of organizations to whom the victim could be referred for help with shelter, medical care, legal assistance, and other critical services. In this case, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline described below.”

To reiterate: If you are a human trafficking victim or if you have information about a potential trafficking situation, call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733. This national, toll-free hotline has specialists available to answer calls from anywhere in the country, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also submit a tip at humantraffickinghotline.org.
For urgent situations, notify local law enforcement immediately by calling 911, and also alert the National Human Trafficking Hotline.