KNOW WHAT
TO WATCH FOR.

• It only happens to children — adults of every age are trafficked, including men.
• It only happens abroad or in big cities — it happens in small towns, suburbs and rural counties.
• Victims are physically locked up — most are not; the cage is debt, threat, shame or addiction.
• Victims will ask for help — many do not identify as victims, and many have been told police will arrest or deport them.
• It is always sexual — labor trafficking in agriculture, domestic work, construction, restaurants, nail salons and door-to-door sales is widespread.
• Someone would obviously notice — traffickers rely on the fact that a controlled person in public looks unremarkable.

Rarely all of it, almost never in a hurry.

• Targeting — someone identifies a need: money, housing, belonging, immigration status, a way out of a bad home, attention a teenager isn’t getting elsewhere.
• Flattery and fast intimacy — intense attention, "you’re not like other people," talk of a future together within days or weeks.
• Gifts and dependency — phone, clothes, rent, drugs, a place to stay. Later reframed as a debt that is owed.
• Isolation — friends and family painted as jealous or controlling, and gradually cut out. Moves to a new city away from anyone who would notice.
• The ask — one "favor," one photo, one shift, one trip. Framed as temporary and as proof of loyalty.
• Lock-in — the favor becomes the arrangement, enforced by debt, shame, blackmail, threats to family, confiscated documents, or withdrawal.

• Job offers with vague duties, unusually high pay, or "housing included" and no written contract.
• Modeling, dancing, hostessing or "promo work" scouted through social media DMs.
• Online gaming, livestream and social platforms where an adult moves a young person to an encrypted or private chat.
• Fake talent, au pair, nanny or overseas study agencies that charge a large up-front recruitment fee.
• Romantic relationships that move to sharing explicit images inside the first few conversations.
• Shelters, group homes, bus stations and the doorways of treatment centers, where someone offers a bed with conditions attached.

• Scripted, rehearsed or inconsistent answers to simple questions, especially about where they live or work.
• Someone else answers for them, holds their documents, or speaks on their behalf in every interaction.
• Deference or fear toward a companion that doesn’t match the stated relationship.
• Cannot leave a job or residence, or cannot come and go freely.
• Avoids eye contact and avoids authority figures; visible anxiety at the mention of police or immigration.
• Loses track of what city or state they are in, or has no idea of the address where they sleep.
• A sudden, unexplained change in a young person: new expensive phone or clothing, older controlling partner, dropped friendships, unexplained absences, new tattoo used as branding.

• Signs of untreated injury, malnourishment, dental neglect, or poor hygiene inconsistent with their surroundings.
• Wearing clothing inappropriate for the weather or work being performed.
• No identification, no bank account, and no control of their own money or wages.
• Few or no personal possessions; living at the work site or in overcrowded employer-controlled housing.
• A phone that is monitored, or being required to answer it immediately and always.

• Working excessive hours with no days off, unpaid, or "paying off" a recruitment debt.
• Security measures that keep people in rather than intruders out: bars turned inward, locked interior doors, covered windows, cameras pointed at living areas.
• A minor in a hotel, truck stop, bar, casino or commercial venue with an unrelated adult, especially late at night.
• Frequent relocation between cities, or transport arranged and controlled entirely by someone else.
• Third party holding all the money in a commercial exchange.

• A person or vehicle you have now noticed in more than one place, or that stays put while everything around it moves on.
• Someone whose attention tracks you rather than their own apparent activity, or who mirrors your pace and direction across changes.
• Occupied vehicle parked with the engine running near a school, playground, transit stop or building exit with no obvious reason.
• A vehicle backed into a space where every other car is nose-in, or parked to block a walkway or doorway.
• An unnecessary approach that closes distance fast, or an approach from a blind side in a parking structure, stairwell or elevator lobby.
• A stranger who knows your name, your child’s name, or details about your routine they should have no way of knowing.

Every one of these is an attempt to move you somewhere with fewer witnesses.

• Asking for help in a way that requires you to leave a populated place — a lost pet, a broken-down car, directions that need showing rather than telling.
• Claiming a family emergency and offering a ride: "your mom sent me," "there’s been an accident, come with me."
• Fake authority — a badge shown too quickly, an unmarked car, a uniform without a visible agency, insistence that you get in now.
• Manufactured urgency and a refusal to let you call anyone, verify anything, or wait.
• Persistent contact after you have disengaged; following you into a store, garage or hallway.
• Attempts to separate you from your group, your phone, or your vehicle.

• Moving the conversation off the original platform to encrypted, disappearing or private channels.
• Asking for secrecy from parents, or framing you as the only person who understands them.
• Excessive gifts, game currency, gift cards, phone credit, or money sent with no explanation.
• Escalating personal questions about their body, their relationships or whether they are alone.
• Sending explicit material to normalize it, then asking for an image in return.
• Any threat to share an image already obtained — this is sextortion, it is a crime, and the child is the victim, never the offender.
• Pressing to meet in person, or to arrange travel without a parent knowing.

• Switching screens, hiding a device, or emotional volatility tied to notifications.
• Secondary accounts, a second phone, or apps you didn’t install and don’t recognize.
• Withdrawal from friends, sport, school or family alongside a new online relationship.
• Talking about an online friend who is older, or whose age keeps shifting.
• New money, packages, clothing, phone or vape supply with no traceable source.
• Sudden secrecy about travel plans, or an unexplained trip to meet someone.

• Control of all money — no access to accounts, an allowance, or being made to account for every dollar.
• Monitoring: location tracking, reading messages, demanding passwords, constant check-in calls.
• Sabotage of work, school, friendships and family contact until there is no independent support left.
• Threats aimed at leverage rather than the person: children, custody, immigration status, pets, or exposure of private images.
• Documents withheld — passport, ID, green card, birth certificate, benefit cards.
• Escalating jealousy and accusation; rules that change without warning, so the person is always in the wrong.
• Injuries explained implausibly or inconsistently; frequent absences; long sleeves and dark glasses out of season.
• A partner who will not leave them alone with a clinician, a teacher or a friend.

• Call 911 if anyone is in immediate physical danger. Nothing below replaces that.
• Call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, or text "HELP" to 233733. Free, confidential, 24/7, and staffed by people trained for exactly this call.
• Write down what you observed while it is fresh: date, time, exact location, descriptions, vehicle make and plate, direction of travel, number of people.
• Report it even if you are not sure. Analysts and investigators exist to connect one fragment to a hundred others. Your fragment may be the one that completes a case.
• If someone discloses to you, listen, believe them, and ask what they want to happen next.
• Send our team what you know through the confidential tip form on this site.

Well-meant intervention gets people hurt.

• Do not confront a suspected trafficker or abuser. You will remove their sense of control and the person you are trying to help will absorb the consequence.
• Do not attempt a rescue, a rideshare extraction, or a surveillance operation of your own.
• Do not post photos, video, names or locations on social media. It destroys the investigation and puts the victim at risk.
• Do not question a possible victim in front of the person who may be controlling them.
• Do not promise outcomes you cannot deliver, and do not push someone to make a decision before they are safe enough to make it.
• Do not delete anything — messages, images, call logs or accounts are evidence.

• Phone down and one earbud out in parking lots, transit platforms, stairwells and at your car door — the moments of transition are where approaches happen.
• Keep distance as your first defense. Anyone closing on you unnecessarily gets a loud, clear "stop" and a wide berth.
• Vary your routine where you can, and never let a stranger know your schedule.
• Park in lit, camera-covered areas; have keys in hand before you reach the vehicle; check the back seat and lock the doors before you sit.
• Verify a rideshare by asking the driver who they are picking up rather than offering your name, and match plate, model and driver photo before opening the door.
• Refuse to be moved. Almost no legitimate request requires you to walk to a quieter place with someone you just met.
• Tell one person where you are going and when you will check in, every time — including on dates and job interviews.

• Turn off location sharing in photos and posts, and never post in real time from where you are staying.
• Lock down friend and follower lists; audit who actually has access to a child’s accounts.
• Treat any request for an intimate image as the start of an extortion attempt, regardless of who appears to be asking.
• Video-verify before meeting anyone met online, meet in a public place in daylight, arrange your own transport, and tell someone the plan.
• Be skeptical of a job that recruits by DM, pays in cash, requires travel up front, or charges you a fee to be hired.

• Agree a code word that means "come get me now, no questions" — and never make them explain it afterward.
• Teach that no adult who is actually authorized to collect them will ever need to be kept secret, and that they can refuse, yell and run from any adult, including one who claims authority.
• Rehearse it out loud. A plan a child has said in their own voice is the one they will use under stress.
• Keep a current photo and a written description — height, weight, identifying marks — and know what they were wearing when they left.
• Make the door a permanently open one: the child who believes they will be punished for the first mistake will not tell you about the second.