What is Human Trafficking?

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Human trafficking is the recruitment, harboring, transporting, and/or obtaining a person for:

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• SEX TRAFFICKING -- commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act is under the age of 18​

• LABOR TRAFFICKING -- labor or services through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery

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Who are victims of Human Trafficking?

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Anyone can be victimized through force, fraud, or coercion to perform any kind of work or commercial sex act by another person and any minor engaged in a commercial sex act is a human trafficking victim. Regardless of their walk of life, a victim can be anyone; however, traffickers commonly prey on individuals who are vulnerable, such as teens, runaways, LGBTQ+, people in poverty, or those looking for a better life. Predators deceive their targets with false promises of love or a good job, and lure them into situations where they are forced to work under conditions that are deplorable with little or no pay. 

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What are some of the Red Flags?

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Knowing what to look for in trafficked victims can possibly help them with the assistance they need. Should you suspect that you or someone you know is being trafficked, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. Or text HELP to BeFree (233733). 

 

​What are the Common Work and Living Conditions:

• Is the person free to leave or come and go as he/she wishes

• Is He/ SHE under 18 and is providing commercial sex acts

• Is in the commercial sex industry and has a pimp/manager

• Is unpaid, paid very little, or paid only through tips

• Works excessively long and/or unusual hours

• Is not allowed breaks or suffers under unusual restrictions at work

• Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off

• Was recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work

• High-security measures exist in the work and/or living locations (e.g. opaque windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.)

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Poor Mental Health or Abnormal Behavior

• Is fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid

• Exhibits unusually fearful or anxious behavior after bringing up law enforcement

• Avoids eye contact

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Poor Physical Health

• Lacks health care

• Appears malnourished

• Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture

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Lack of Control

• Has few or no personal possessions

• Is not in control of his/her own money, no financial records, or bank account

• Is not in control of his/her own identification documents (ID or passport)

• Is not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on being present and/or translating)

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Other

• Claims of just visiting and inability to clarify where he/she is staying/address

• Lack of knowledge of whereabouts and/or do not know what city he/she is in

• Loss of sense of time

• Has numerous inconsistencies in his/her story

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This list is not exhaustive and represents only a selection of possible indicators. Also, the red flags in this list may not be present in all trafficking cases and are not cumulative. Learn more at www.humantraffickinghotline.org.

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Myths & Facts

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Myth: It’s always or usually a violent crime

• Reality: By far the most pervasive myth about human trafficking is that it always - or often - involves kidnapping or otherwise physically forcing someone into a situation. In reality, most human traffickers use psychological means such as tricking, defrauding, manipulating or threatening victims into providing commercial sex or exploitative labor.

Myth: All human trafficking involves commercial sex

• Reality: Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud or coercion to get another person to provide labor or commercial sex. Worldwide, experts believe there are more situations of labor trafficking than of sex trafficking. However, there is much wider awareness of sex trafficking in the United States than of labor trafficking.

Myth: Only undocumented foreign nationals get trafficked in the United States

• Reality: Polaris has worked on thousands of cases of trafficking involving foreign national survivors who are legally living and/or working in the United States. These include survivors of both sex and labor trafficking.

Myth: Human trafficking only happens in illegal or underground industries

• Reality: Human trafficking cases have been reported and prosecuted in industries including restaurants, cleaning services, construction, factories and more.

Myth: Only women and girls can be victims and survivors of sex trafficking

• Reality: One study estimates that as many as half of sex trafficking victims and survivors are male. Advocates believe that percentage may be even higher but that male victims are far less likely to be identified. LGBTQ boys and young men are seen as particularly vulnerable to trafficking.

Myth: Human trafficking involves moving, traveling or transporting a person across state or national borders

• Reality: Human trafficking is often confused with human smuggling, which involves illegal border crossings. In fact, the crime of human trafficking does not require any movement whatsoever. Survivors can be recruited and trafficked in their own home towns, even their own homes.

Myth: All commercial sex is human trafficking

• Reality: All commercial sex involving a minor is legally considered human trafficking. Commercial sex involving an adult is human trafficking if the person providing commercial sex is doing so against his or her will as a result of force, fraud or coercion.

Myth: If the trafficked person consented to be in their initial situation, then it cannot be human trafficking or against their will because they “knew better”

• Reality: Initial consent to commercial sex or a labor setting prior to acts of force, fraud, or coercion (or if the victim is a minor in a sex trafficking situation) is not relevant to the crime, nor is payment.

Myth: People being trafficked are physically unable to leave their situations/locked in/held against their will

• Reality: That is sometimes the case. More often, however, people in trafficking situations stay for reasons that are more complicated. Some lack the basic necessities to physically get out - such as transportation or a safe place to live. Some are afraid for their safety. Some have been so effectively manipulated that they do not identify at that point as being under the control of another person.

Myth: Labor trafficking is only or primarily a problem in developing countries

• Reality: Labor trafficking occurs in the United States and in other developed countries but is reported at lower rates than sex trafficking.

Myth: Traffickers target victims they don’t know

• Reality: Many survivors have been trafficked by romantic partners, including spouses, and by family members, including parents.

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Reference Polaris | We Fight to End Human Trafficking (polarisproject.org)

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