Human Trafficking is one of the most difficult crimes to spot, because victims are ordinary people. However, there are signs that can help identify yourself and others as potential trafficking victims. Learning the red flags and potential indicators is the first step in getting the help you or a victim needs.
Do you or someone you know experience the following:
Common Work and Living Conditions:
- Is providing sexual acts or work in exchange for services/benefits
- Not free to leave or come and go as they wish
- Under 18 and is providing paid sex acts
- Has a pimp/manager or someone who will never leave their side
- Unpaid or paid very little by tips off the record (in cash)
- Works long and/or unusual hours
- Is not allowed breaks or has unusual restrictions at work
- Owes a large debt and is unable to pay it off
- Recruited through false promises concerning the nature and conditions of his/her work
- Work or living space features tinted windows, boarded up windows, bars on windows, barbed wire, security cameras, etc.(anything that makes it difficult to see inside)
Poor Mental Health or Abnormal Behavior:
- Fearful, anxious, depressed, submissive, tense, or nervous/paranoid
- Unusually afraid or anxious around law enforcement or when law enforcement is brought up
- Avoids eye contact
- Overly attached to one person or has one person overly attached to them
Poor Physical Health:
- No access to health care
- Appears malnourished or skinny
- Shows signs of physical and/or sexual abuse, physical restraint, confinement, or torture like bruises, cuts, etc.
Lack of Control:
- Has very little personal property, wears the same clothes over and over again
- Paid mostly in cash and not in control of their own money, no financial records, or bank account.
- Not in control of their own identification documents (ID or passport) or had them taken by their employer
- Not allowed or able to speak for themselves (a third party may insist on being present and/or translating)
Other:
- Claims of just visiting and inability to clarify where he/she is living
- Does not know where they are and/or do not know what city they are in
- No sense of time
- Their story does not add up or make sense
Find help today, call us at 1-888-373-7888 or Text HELP to: BeFree (233733).
https://www.projectnorest.org/what-does-human-trafficking-look-like/