Recognizing the Signs

General Indicators

• Is under 18 years of age and is involved in commercial sex
• Shares scripted or inconsistent history
• Accompanied by an individual who does not let the person speak, refuses privacy or interrupts
• Evidence of controlling or dominating relationships
• Fearful or nervous behavior
• Avoids eye contact
• Unaware of location, date, and time
• Not in possession of ID/documents
• Not in control of own money
• Not being paid or wages are withheld

Sex Trafficking

Sex trafficking occurs when someone is induced, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion to engage in a commercial sex act, or when the person who is induced to perform a commercial sex act is under the age of 18. (Any child under 18 who is involved in commercial sex is legally a victim of trafficking, regardless of whether there is a third party involved.)

A commercial sex act includes prostitution, pornography, and sexual performance done in exchange for any item of value such as money, drugs, shelter, food, or clothes.

Someone may be experiencing sex trafficking if they:

• Want to stop participating in commercial sex but feel scared or unable to leave the situation.
• Disclose that they were reluctant to engage in commercial sex but that someone pressured them into it.
• Live where they work or are transported by guards between home and workplace.
• Are children who live with or are dependent on a family member with a substance use problem or who is abusive.
• Have a “pimp” or “manager” in the commercial sex industry.
• Work in an industry where it may be common to be pressured into performing sex acts for money, such as a strip club, illicit cantina, go-go bar, or illicit massage business.
• Have a controlling parent, guardian, romantic partner, or “sponsor” who will not allow them to meet or speak with anyone alone or who monitors their movements, spending, or communications.

Source: National Human Trafficking Hotline

Labor Trafficking

Labor trafficking occurs when someone is recruited, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, to work in situations of involuntary servitude, peonage, or debt bondage. Labor trafficking includes situations where men, women, and children are forced to work because of debt, immigration status, threats, and violence. Keeping victims isolated — physically or emotionally — is a key method of control in most labor trafficking situations. But that does not mean you never cross paths with someone who is experiencing trafficking. These situations are far more common than imagined.

Labor services include domestic servitude, agricultural work, restaurant work, panhandling, construction, landscaping, janitorial services, nail salons, traveling sales, and others.

Someone may be experiencing labor trafficking or exploitation if they:

• Feel pressured by their employer to stay in a job or situation they want to leave
• Owe money to an employer or recruiter or are not being paid what they were promised or are owed
• Do not have control of their passport or other identity documents
• Are living and working in isolated conditions, largely cut off from interaction with others or support systems
• Appear to be monitored by another person when talking or interacting with others
• Are being threatened by their boss with deportation or other harm
• Are working in dangerous conditions without proper safety gear, training, adequate breaks, or other protections
• Are living in dangerous, overcrowded, or inhumane conditions provided by an employer