Social IssuesMAR 10, 2022

35 Helpful Tips For Spotting Illegal Activity, As Shared By People Who Fight Against Human Trafficking

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An uncomfortable truth that we all have to come to terms with is that there’s a lot of evil being done right under our noses without many of us realizing it. In the United States, just in 2020 alone, over 10.5k situations of human trafficking were reported to the US National Human Trafficking Hotline. But as the Polaris project notes, “shocking as these numbers are, they are likely only a fraction of the actual problem.”

Wanting to do some good in the world, redditor u/PermanentSeeker turned to the r/AskReddit community for advice on how to spot and report human trafficking in real-life. The thread went viral and a number of internet users who actually help fight human trafficking or have been affected by it shared their advice. This might be the most informative post you’ve seen today, Pandas.

Bored Panda got in touch with redditor u/PermanentSeeker, who started up the informative thread in the first place. They told us that they were inspired to create the thread because of a number of news stories in their area about people being trafficked or almost becoming victims of trafficking. "It was frightening and disheartening to hear about how much could be going on even in the region around my hometown, a relatively rural area, not a large city). So, I wanted to know if there was anything that I as a regular individual could do to help. I hoped that some people might have more knowledge than I do!" they shared.

"I was surprised (but very happy) to see how much traction it got! I was expecting maybe a few helpful responses at best, and so was not prepared for just how positive of a response it got," the redditor said, hoping that their thread made a positive difference in other people's lives. "I try to pay attention to what is going on around me, and pay attention to anyone who might not be safe."

Bored Panda also got into contact with Brooke Burris, who chairs the Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force in the Charleston area in South Carolina. She was kind enough to explain to us what strategies are best to spread the truth about the scale of human trafficking, what the myths surrounding it are, and what the main roadblocks to eradicating trafficking are. You can make a donation to the Task Force right here.

"The more local the data, the better," Brooke told us that this helps spread the message about human trafficking. "The U.S. Dept. of State has recognized that trafficking is a global problem, solved on the local level through a multidisciplinary response. The more local one's focus on the nature and prevalence of the issue, the better and truer understanding one will have as to both (1) the scale of trafficking and (2) how they specifically can take ownership of the problem and become a part of the solution."

#1

35 Helpful Tips For Spotting Illegal Activity, As Shared By People Who Fight Against Human Trafficking

I’ve told this story on here before. I don’t fight human trafficking, but I’m a teacher who had a student who was sold by his mother in exchange for drugs. He was kept as a sex slave from ages 3-11 when the FBI uncovered a sex ring and found him. He had never been to school. He had never even been out of the house. These sorts of crimes are not being committed out in the open. They are very well hidden. You will never see these children, and no one is missing them. This poor boy couldn’t read or write. One day, he got a 100% on his spelling test. He asked me if I could ‘call his mom and ask her to take him back and he’d be a good boy from now on.’ Child sex trafficking is unfortunately all too common, but its become a very hidden problem.

Rcrowley32, Dids

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218points

Redditor u/PermanentSeeker shared some of the things they found to be the most important that others posted in the thread. "Some of the most helpful responses were in regards to resources; such as where to report child pornography," they said.

"Overall, though, I think a lot of it was just about paying attention to people around us, and being willing to put ourselves out there to ask if things are okay when we notice a strange pattern. I think a lot of people have a natural hesitancy to intrude on other people's lives, but it seems that a lot of the fight against human trafficking revolves around being unafraid to make sure others are safe."

#2

I don't work for any organization that fights this but I have one tip for you all:

If a kid you don't know calls you Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister, Uncle, Aunt, anything, YOU PLAY ALONG. They are likely in a dangerous situation and need help.

LennonMcCartney65, Michał Parzuchowski

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179points

u/PermanentSeeker sees human trafficking as such a complex problem that it's "difficult to know what could really bring a change." However, they believe that having a more ethical, moral society could help decrease trafficking.

"This would hopefully lead to a more vehement response when wrongdoing is discovered, as well as fewer individuals likely to become perpetrators because of better moral or ethical formation," they said.

"How to get to that point in particular? I'm really not sure. Though, it is easier to combat something as a culture when everyone can see its ugliness. Perhaps additional exposure and news coverage would be a good place to start. More people made aware of the things going on in their own neighborhoods."

#3

My sociology professor told us if we ever see a child at a motel/hotel , make sure to say hi to them , and you can pretty well judge by their reaction if they're safe or not.

also it's a bit harder to do as a man.

Ok_Act_1214, Michał Parzuchowski

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151points

According to Brooke, from the Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force, another strategy that can help spread awareness about trafficking—particularly sex trafficking—is to bring to light the connection between pornography and human trafficking. "The porn industry brings in billions of dollars and, ultimately, sex trafficking is forced or coerced commercial sex," she said. You can read more about the connection right here.

There are a lot of misconceptions about what trafficking looks like. Brooke told Bored Panda that many people think that trafficking incidents look like situations from the movie 'Taken' and involve kidnapping or require transporting people. "Both are myths," she said.

"Kidnapping and using physical force/coercion is only one means by which a trafficker can control a victim," she said, referring to the AMP model (Action + Means + Purpose = Human Trafficking). In short, there are different actions and means by which people contribute to the problem, for different purposes.

"In fact, according to a report of prosecuted sex trafficking cases in the U.S., 59% of coercive tactics used by traffickers were non-physical, compared to 41% of tactics involving physical coercion," Brooke said. "Further, transportation is merely one type of action used by a trafficker."

#4

Here in Spain we get a lot of women from eastern Europe and sub saharan Africa, some pay for their trip to europe this way, some are blackmailed and some are lured offers of jobs like cleaning, or low level administrative jobs (secretaries, paper pushing) and end up on in a roadside brothel.

If you´re a young woman in a poor area of eastern europe and you get a offer for a easy job in germany, france, spain or the netherlands. be VERY suspicious.

Aevum1, Alexander Mils

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139points

#5

I actually have a story for this! I am by no means someone who exposes sex trafficking for a living, just someone who had an experience.

I lived in a very sketch apartment complex in Phoenix. My wife and I generally keep to ourselves, so we didn’t really have a problem. We at first noticed that there were constant visitors to our immediate neighbors ( their front door faced our front door). We figured maybe they were selling weed or some s**t like that. Do you, we don’t give a flying f**k as long as you don’t bring trouble to us.

Then we noticed it was only men who would show up every 15-20 minutes, stay for 15-45 minutes and leave. At this point we’re thinking whatever, if a chick wants to use sex work, we can’t give a s**t.

Then we noticed the pimp and the other girls in this apartment. They looked young, never left the apartment unless escorted and would only stick around for a couple of months before a new girl was brought in. When I say young, I mean they looked maybe 18. We only started realizing during quarantine and were home all day. The men would constantly knock on our door throughout the day and night, which is what caught our attention.

Anyways. We called Phoenix PD. They knocked on the door and said they couldn’t do anything without us providing photographic evidence. So we sat on our patio one day and discreetly starting taking photos of all the men coming in. Call the cops again and provide evidence. They knock on the door again, a customer walks out and hauls ass. The girls all haul ass. The pimp comes by after and bangs on our door.

We stayed at my dads house for 2 weeks while a sex crimes investigator surveyed the apartment. The pimp helped them move out and the investigator was able to find their new spot. We moved the f**k out very shortly after because we were afraid of some sort of revenge.

This is long, but pay attention to the people surrounding where you live. No need to be a nosy person, but when we actually started paying attention, we saw what was going on more clearly. We were concerned because none of these girls spoke any English, weren’t allowed out of the complex without an escort and seemed to be replaced constantly.

Walkn2thejawsofhell, White

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133points

#6

In Texas, something similar happened to my great grandmother when she was around ten. This can happen anywhere. And children are particularly vulnerable.

Her father traded her for some farm animals in the 1910's. So she went to live with this middle-aged married couple. She was supposed to be their servant in exchange for food and board. She had her first child fathered by the husband when she was eleven. It didn’t survive. The second one did.

After my grandma told me about all this and more, I suddenly understood my great grandmother better, her personality and her actions. And I had always wondered why she wasn’t much older than her oldest children. And then I knew why.

If I remember correctly, she died in the late nineties/early 2000's. She was a complicated woman.

CrunchyTamale, Pixabay

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122points

Bored Panda wanted to get Brooke's opinion on whether she believes that human trafficking could be eradicated entirely. "Until the Lord comes, I think evil will always exist in our world. Therefore, if I'm honest, I don't think we will be able to eradicate human trafficking entirely," she was candid that the problem will always persist in some shape or form. The best that we can do is limit its scope as much as possible.

The Charleston area chair of the Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force explained that one effective thing that society as a whole could do to eradicate sex trafficking is to stop watching pornography. "According to cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, pornography was the 3rd-most common form of sex trafficking, after escort services and elicit massage businesses," she said.

#7

I worked as front desk for a hotel, had a couple of experiences with this.

Look for groups of 2-3 where one person does all of the talking, specifically when the other(s) look scared, are overly covered, cringe when the talker is speaking, or look under the influence of something.

Ensure you get ID from all parties when you suspect something is going on, note down their room number and names given, trust your gut, what we call a 'gut feeling' is a combination of millions of tiny factors you might not knowingly be aware of, tiny details like hitched breathing, microexpressions, specific lying tells, environmental factors, etc.

These all add up and let your subconscious mind make connections that your general mind might not. Trust that feeling if you suspect something is wrong, and contact the police to inform them of a suspected human trafficking issue.

Both times my gut told me to call it in I ended up regrettably being correct.

tsavong117, mauro mora

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118points

#8

There's an app you can download called TraffickCam.

Any time you stay at a hotel, upload photos of your room. Those photos are incorporated into an artificial intelligence algorithm that helps identify locations of trafficking victims via background details.

m31td0wn

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118points

#9

If a guy comes into a tattoo shop with multiple women (either at once or separate trips) and makes the women get the same tattoo

This may be specific to the area of the US I was in, but the nonprofit I worked for had us go to tattoo shops and give them pictures of known tattoo designs that traffickers make their victims get. Most shops were happy to take the pictures and post them in employee only areas and train employees on protocol when somebody came in for the tattoo. One was really s**tty because they didn't want to miss out on the money they make from doing these tattoos, which made us assume it was a lot of requests for the tattoos

isolatingpickle, Maxim Hopman

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117points

"A key roadblock to eradicating sex trafficking is that porn is so accessible, 'normalized,' and even praised in our society. Technology has exacerbated the growth of sex trafficking," she warned.

Meanwhile, when it comes to eradicating labor trafficking, an effective strategy, according to Brooke, is to "keep abreast of your local HB Visa applicants and do outreach efforts on employment rights in those communities with high numbers of HB visa workers."

She noted that this is "by far most effectively done in a culturally appropriate manner with in-person translators. Further, it should be noted, that stats show that labor trafficking is more prevalent than sex trafficking. The vast majority of human trafficking victims come from vulnerable populations, and of the approximately 24.9 million victims of forced labor, an estimated 4.8 million—about 19%—are trafficked for sex."

Redditor u/sunshineandshrapnel, aka Grace, who was one of the top commentators in the viral thread about trafficking, kindly helped Bored Panda get in touch with Brooke. Grace still volunteers with the Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force from time to time. She noted that there are some ethical pornography websites out there that "ensure the actors have signed consent forms and verbal consent throughout."

#10

I can only speak of my experience being trafficked in America. They get you young, when you're poor, and don't know any better. A mixture of positive validation and generosity contrasts heavily with the poor and abusive lifestyle prevalent in poverty. Then it becomes an ask, and another ask, and before you know it you're just in it and don't know any other way.

Any time I see a younger woman being affectionate with an older man I want to claw his eyes out. Men in business suits still gives me anxiety.

Don't buy sex from anyone who looks under 20. If you do you're part of the problem and you know it. Burn in hell Johns.

fenwynflies

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116points

#11

In Latin America: Look for maids who have been with a family since they were children. In my country they are called criadas.

This is form of servitude that closely resembles slavery and begins with a child, usually female of a poor rural family being brought to live with a moderately welthy urban family. The promise of a better future than what the parents could provide.

These kids don't attend school and perform house chores all day and are paid in food and living quarters and sometimes the promise of money that the bosses are holding for them. They grow up this way so when they are adults they are afraid to leave, they don't know any other way of life.

The bosses don't often acknowledge anything wrong and they claim that the criada is grateful for having been given a better life.

I sadly have to admit that this happened in my extended family, they were bosses to a criada who would be 75 years old today. Only after all my aunts died and my cousins inherited the criada, they acknowledged the wrong doing and arragend for her to have a pension and a house and never have to work again and be treated a respected member of the family. But it was too late. She only lived as a retired person for 5 years before dying. She never learned to read, she never had children or a husband or any type or significant other.

Kriskao, Tima Miroshnichenko

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101points

#12

I had a loved one pulled into the sex trafficking industry as an adult. So, I can offer a couple pointers for spotting adults who are being sold as sex workers.

1. Missing shoes. It's hard to run away in a city barefoot. Blisters are a dead giveaway.
2. Not carrying a cell phone, identification, or the purse or wallet to put it in. Their pimp likes to hold these hostage to prohibit contact with the outside world and to make it difficult to purchase long distance transportation.

LoneQuietus81, Alicia Zinn

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97points

Redditor u/PermanentSeeker’s thread reached a lot of people on Reddit and beyond. The thread was upvoted over 46.7k times and the author received an entire host of awards.

However, the real value was the information in the thread, shared by the people who know a bit (or a whole lot) about how human trafficking works, how to spot someone in need of help, and how to handle delicate situations.

According to the Polaris project, absolutely anyone can become a victim of human trafficking. No matter their age, race, ethnicity, or gender. However, at the same time, it’s vital to know that some people are more vulnerable than others.

“Significant risk factors include recent migration or relocation, substance use, mental health concerns, involvement with the child welfare system, and being a runaway or homeless youth. Often, traffickers identify and leverage their victims’ vulnerabilities in order to create dependency,” Polaris explains.

#13

Most of human trafficking is not the movie kind. It's more the kind where an ethnic restaurant brings over a cook from their home country and they have to work unreasonable hours to pay back for the trip.

Or maybe it's a maid or a construction worker who works below minimum wage and can't have their passport back.

So look for people who work long hours at sub-legal wages.

Pontus_Pilates, cottonbro

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97points

#14

When I was young, I had neighbors from India who had a family servant. I was really young at the time and was friends with the family’s children. Their “maid” cooked all their meals, cleaned their house, etc. and slept on the floor. What I remember is the family would go to India every now and then and I guess they promised her a better life in the US if she worked for them. As a result they took her passport and she was pretty much confined to their home. No holidays, no weekend breaks, I don’t even think she was paid and had a bank account setup. She was a very sweet nice lady who made AMAZING curry.

Anyways she wasn’t allowed to converse with anyone outside of the home. However we all carpooled together after school so she would come to my mom’s car to get the children and she would talk to my mom and even make my mom food. After awhile (2 years I would say) My parents and my neighbors started to catch on.

My parents made a plan to get her out and escape. She left and we took her to a family friend’s place where she lived for about a year. She would go to the local Indian community center and I believe she met a man there. She eventually moved out of our family friend’s home and I believe she got married. I hope she’s doing well and every now and then I think about her.

spacecatz101, cottonbro

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97points

#15

My husband works with a children’s home that deals with human trafficking; as said above most have to do with horrible work conditions but there are some that are actual sex trafficking and he said that he finds most of the victims very quiet and their eyes are always darting...constantly looking around for the next horrible thing/person to happen....he comes home and cries and tells me this job is the most rewarding he’s ever done but it is going to break his heart and his hope for humanity.

Zealousideal_Dog_968, samer daboul

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88points

Human traffickers use a variety of tactics to control their victims. For instance, they can use their power, wealth, privilege, as well as physical and emotional abuse to get what they want. At other times, they threaten their victims, isolate them from their loved ones, and employ economic abuse against them.

“They make promises aimed at addressing the needs of their target in order to impose control. As a result, victims become trapped and fear leaving for myriad reasons, including psychological trauma, shame, emotional attachment, or physical threats to themselves or their family,” Polaris explains.

Psychologist and wellbeing consultant Lee Chambers, from the UK, shared some of his thoughts about traumatic experiences during an earlier interview with Bored Panda.

"Post-traumatic growth isn't always simple to explain or utilize, but often the adversity we face can create a precedent for what we can overcome, help us to see what we need to be grateful for, and give us an understanding of the support we do have,” he said.

#16

Our country (Philippines) is unfortunately the global hotspot of child cybersex trafficking in the world. Unlike what's usually portrayed in movies, these children are not kidnapped by syndicates then sold to p***philes. Sadly, most of the sexual abuses happen at home. Parents or guardians are the ones exploiting them to get money!

I am not directly involved in the actual rescue or fight, but I do work with nonprofit organizations that provide shelter and therapy for rescued victims. I've met and talked to some of these children. Many of them didn't even realize that they are being abused, especially those who were not r**ed IRL. They were groomed to think that just getting nude in front of the camera or touching themselves for pedophiles is not "bad".

I think one important thing is that kids should know when they are being abused. It should be taught in schools. It can save lives.

Acel32, Majestic Lukas

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77points

#17

It’s important to note that the “taken” kind of sex slave trafficking is NOT the majority of global trafficking.

95% of missing children are returned to their parents within 3 days.

50% have to do with custody disputes.

The majority of the rest are runaways.

There are Facebook macros all the time about “800,000 children go missing every year” and show you a pic of a sad kid in the back of an unmarked van — misleading in its presentation and distracts from the far more widespread human trafficking phenomena. Which includes indentured servants paying off their transportation to the country they work in now, or Politically or socially oppressed in their home country who pay others to move them illegally.

When you go googling “save the children” hashtags, you’ll slip real quick into rabbit holes full of conspiracy theories and falsehoods, which actively damages public efforts to ACTUALLY curb exploitative human trafficking.

Children are exponentially more likely to be sexually abused by a close friend or family member than by nefarious strangers.

Please keep your priorities in the right place.

coleosis1414

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67points

#18

I am an intern at a Human Trafficking Task Force. It really helps just knowing the basics because I had no idea everything it entails. There is sex trafficking (the one we all know the most about), labor trafficking, and organ trafficking.

Trafficking happens through force, fraud, and/ or coercion. Trafficking is something of value that is being exchanged; the “something of value” can be food, shelter, clothes, money. You get the gist.

There is also the age issue. ANYONE under the age of 18 that has sex in exchange for a good is automatically considered a human trafficking victim. Even if the legal age of consent is 16, a 16 year old cannot consent to commercial sex. It also does not matter if they say they’re 18 and have fake identification “proving” they’re 18. If you are caught paying someone that is legally 16 for sex, you are human trafficking.

My organization is holding a webinar on this soon, and we also have social media where we explain the issues! If you guys want to PM me, I’ll share our socials. Visualization helps us fight HT (and so do donations if you can! we are a nonprofit). Thank you for reading!

sunshineandshrapnel, Bob Price

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66points

“A big part of opening the door to grow from our struggles is finding acceptance and taking ownership over what you can control and finding healthy ways to express the negative emotion that comes with challenges that test us," the psychologist said.

One of the tactics that Lee used to deal with his trauma when he had to relearn how to walk is journaling.

Lee also opened up about what personally helped him when he had to learn to walk again. "Using journaling and talking about how I felt played a significant part in my recovery when I had to learn to walk again, and gave me the space to grow to become mentally stronger as a result. It is also important to reflect on all the hurdles you've overcome, so you can see what skills and lessons you've learned to apply in the future, and adversity often helps us to see what really matters, and gets us closer to knowing our values and purpose."

#19

One thing to note is sometimes it can happen in your own backyard, it can be the people you least expect.

I remember as a kid (maybe age 10 or 11) I used to play at one of my neighbors house, down the street. The girl who lived there was 2 years younger than me, so around 7 or 8, and I knew that her family was poorer than ours (cause the house was smaller and sorta in shambles and very dirty). I played there all the time, and she would always say things that were "odd" or "sexual" and it would always make me uncomfortable (my gut told me something was wrong).

One day she casually dropped that her brother had molested her and that his friends paid to use her body as well. I remember not being able to really process the weight of what she told me (but I knew it was wrong) and I ended up telling my mum and my mum called CPS on the family. Not sure what ended up happening to her because my family moved neighborhoods, but it still really creeps me out to this day, knowing I had sleep overs at her house when her brother and his friends were over and I could have just as easily been taken advantage of.

This type of thing is not uncommon at all.

prettyxxreckless, João Cruz

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65points

#20

I really hope this doesn't get buried. The manicure industry is notorious for this, so please think twice before patronizing salons you aren't familiar with.

PreciousandReckless, Giorgio Trovato

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64points

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