Cyber Trafficking

Victims and Targeted Demographics

Gender Disparities in Victimization

In North America, 84% of all detected trafficking victims in 2018 were women and girls. These groups are disproportionately targeted due to their heightened vulnerability to online recruitment tactics. Cultural norms and societal expectations often render women more susceptible to exploitation, particularly in environments where they are viewed as lesser than their male counterparts.

Vulnerable Groups at Risk

Adolescents, particularly those from low-income households, experiencing family conflict, or with a history of abuse, are especially at risk. These individuals often lack the resources and support systems to protect themselves, making them attractive targets for traffickers. Systemic factors like poverty, gender inequality, and lack of education further increase risks, particularly for women in regions with limited economic opportunities. Young people, yearning for independence and acceptance, are particularly vulnerable to manipulation by traffickers.

The average age entering the life for those engaged in online prostitution and stripping is 14.2. The average age for those engaged in street prostitution is 13.8, and the average age drops to 12.8 for those reporting being forced into pornography production (Thorn).

Marginalized Communities

Refugees and migrants face disproportionate risks, with traffickers exploiting their precarious situations under the guise of providing transportation or documentation help. Many are unaware of the dangers that lurk in their new environments and may be forced to rely on these predatory individuals due to their limited options. The exploitation of these communities highlights the intersectionality of trafficking, where socio-economic status, ethnicity, and immigration status converge to create vulnerability.

Technological Exploitation

Traffickers use algorithms and targeted ads to reach specific demographics, tailoring recruitment efforts to resonate with victims' personal circumstances and vulnerabilities. The internet provides a platform where personalized messaging can be deployed, making it easier for traffickers to engage with potential victims. By exploiting data from social media interactions and online behaviors, traffickers can effectively hone in on individuals who display signs of emotional or economic distress.

Online Recruitment and Exploitation

Common Recruitment Tactics

Traffickers prey on economic and emotional vulnerabilities, leveraging digital platforms to recruit individuals. Key tactics include:

• Fake job offers: Advertisements for roles such as nannies, performers, or hospitality workers lure victims into exploitative conditions. These ads are often designed to appear legitimate, enticing individuals with promises of high pay or fulfilling work.
• Romantic relationships: Traffickers pose as romantic partners to build trust and manipulate victims emotionally. This tactic often involves lengthy grooming processes, where victims are made to feel loved and secure before being exploited.
• Modeling opportunities: Fraudulent offers for modeling contracts or photoshoots are used to exploit young women and girls. These scenarios can lead to dangerous situations where victims are coerced into compromising positions.

Alarming Statistics on Trafficking

The 2020 UNODC Trafficking in Persons Report highlights a 50% increase in trafficking cases involving online recruitment from 2017 to 2020. Social media platforms account for over 60% of detected cases in certain regions, with 77% of traffickers targeting children through social media and other online channels. These statistics indicate a growing trend in the exploitation of digital spaces, necessitating urgent intervention and protective measures.

Exploitation Through Digital Tools

Beyond recruitment, traffickers use digital platforms for livestreamed abusive acts and exploitative performances. The ability to broadcast these acts to a global audience not only increases profits but also complicates law enforcement efforts. Encrypted messaging apps, forums, and dark web platforms enable traffickers to communicate with clients and conceal their operations, often operating in secrecy while conducting their illicit activities.

Child Sexual Exploitation

Gaming platforms, social media, and messaging apps are often used to groom children, exploiting financial or emotional vulnerabilities. Traffickers often engage in long-term grooming tactics, building relationships over time to earn the child’s trust. Livestreamed abuse cases involve coerced children performing for live audiences, often with payments made via cryptocurrency, complicating tracing efforts for law enforcement.

Psychological Manipulation

Traffickers use tactics like blackmail and sextortion, threatening to release compromising images unless victims comply with their demands. This psychological manipulation creates a cycle of fear and compliance, making it difficult for victims to seek help. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated these issues, with increased online activity making individuals more susceptible to these predatory tactics as social isolation left many vulnerable.

The Role of AI and Deepfake Technology

Advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and deepfakes complicate victim identification and rescue efforts. Traffickers use these tools to create realistic, fabricated content that can deceive victims and law enforcement alike. This technology enables traffickers to manipulate images or videos for extortion purposes, increasing their leverage over victims while blurring the lines of reality in digital interactions.

Cyber Traffickers

The methods employed by traffickers in utilizing internet technologies vary according to their profiles, group sizes, and levels of cyber expertise. Most trafficking cases facilitated by the internet occur on a small scale. Similar to offline trafficking, lone traffickers can exert control over their victims in various ways. Analysis of court cases indicates that traffickers operating alone typically recruit and exploit victims within their countries of residence; only a minority of cases involved the international transfer of victims.

A 2020 study of cases collected by UNODC found a significant number involving internet technology perpetrated by groups of three or more traffickers. Although these cases represent only about one-third of the total identified cases, they accounted for over half of the identified victims, demonstrating that larger trafficking groups can exploit more victims.

Types of Cyber Traffickers

Lone Traffickers

Lone traffickers often rely on basic internet tools, such as smartphones, to control and exploit their victims. They typically operate in familiar environments, using local knowledge to manipulate victims through deception and coercion.

Organized Trafficking Groups

In contrast, organized groups utilize more advanced technologies and strategies. These groups are often characterized by their ability to coordinate complex operations that may include recruiting, monitoring, and exploiting multiple victims simultaneously. Their structured approach allows for greater scalability and effectiveness in their criminal activities.

Strategies Used by Traffickers

Traffickers employ various strategies in their use of internet technologies, which can be categorized into two distinct approaches: 'Hunting' and 'Fishing.' These strategies reflect the different methods traffickers use to target victims and attract clients for exploitative services.

Hunting Strategies

Hunting strategies involve traffickers proactively targeting specific victims based on identifiable vulnerabilities, such as economic or emotional factors. This targeted approach allows traffickers to establish connections with potential buyers of exploitative services.

In the same study of cases collected by UNODC, 21 cases demonstrated hunting strategies, with 18 cases involving victim recruitment and 4 cases focusing on potential clients seeking exploitative services. Notably, one case included both victim and client hunting.

A key characteristic of hunting strategies is the trafficker's proactive pursuit of victims or potential customers online. Social media platforms serve as a valuable resource, offering traffickers access to a large pool of potential targets and the ability to collect personal information on individuals they might otherwise never meet. In nearly all instances of hunting strategies identified, social media played a significant role in the recruitment process.

Fishing Strategies

In contrast, fishing strategies involve traffickers posting advertisements online and waiting for potential clients or victims to respond. According to UNODC data, fishing strategies are more prevalent, identified in 45 cases, representing the majority of the dataset.

Traffickers utilize fishing strategies to recruit victims by advertising seemingly well-paid job opportunities, prompting potential victims to initiate contact. Many perpetrators employ deceptive tactics, advertising jobs in foreign countries to attract victims. For example, in one case, traffickers created fake profiles on the social media platform Vkontakte to promote modeling jobs abroad, ultimately leading to the sexual exploitation of approximately 100 women deceived by these advertisements.

Fishing strategies also extend to attracting potential clients. Traffickers typically post advertisements for escort services or prostitution, inviting interested customers to reach out. One notable case involved traffickers establishing two websites that advertised 'escort services' but were actually fronts for sexual exploitation. Clients would contact the traffickers to make appointments for prostitution services, with more than 30 women advertised online and forced into sexual activities.

The main advantage of fishing strategies is that traffickers can reach numerous potential victims or clients with minimal risk while simultaneously scaling their operations with relatively little effort.

Cyber Flows in Human Trafficking

Traffickers utilize internet technologies to overcome geographical distances, leveraging cyberspace to connect themselves, victims, and the final consumers of exploitative services. This form of trafficking may or may not involve the physical transportation of victims, although some cases have documented the transfer of victims between countries.

Cyber flows are often characterized by victims being coerced into video performances, allowing perpetrators to connect with potential clients across borders. This type of trafficking has been identified in multiple countries and typically relies on the availability of video equipment and digital recording devices to broadcast victims’ exploitation.

Although the examined court cases report few instances of cyber flows, the ones documented were significant in terms of the number of victims and customers involved. Internet technologies enable exploitation to reach larger audiences than is typically possible with traditional trafficking methods. UNICEF has reported that children are at an increased risk of exploitation through webcams, connecting with abusers in different locations, often without their parents' knowledge. While this does not constitute trafficking necessarily, it demonstrates how abusive material can be disseminated easily through digital tools, linking victims and perpetrators in cyberspace.

International Flows

Traffickers frequently employ internet technologies to facilitate cross-border trafficking. Of the examined cases involving internet usage 57% of the total victims were transported across borders. Internet-based technologies provide efficient and convenient methods for facilitating international money transfers, crucial for cross-border trafficking operations.

This often requires multiple connected perpetrators, as illustrated by a case where one organizer coordinated with a recruiter in the victim's country of origin and another individual acted as the enforcer in the destination country where exploitation occurred.

Domestic Flows

Trafficking operations facilitated by the internet can also be confined within national borders. Court cases have shown examples of traffickers coercing relatives into exploitation and advertising their services online. In other instances, individuals in vulnerable situations have been abused by acquaintances and coerced into exploitation, with such acts advertised on internet platforms.

Victims may be recruited online while the exploitation occurs offline. One case details a trafficker who developed an emotional relationship with the targeted victim, eventually gaining complete control over them and coercing them into offline exploitation. Another example involves a trafficker who coerced a female victim into sexual exploitation, advertised her online, and moved her between cities in response to online demand.

Warning Signs of Human Trafficking

Recognizing the warning signs of human trafficking can be crucial in identifying individuals at risk and providing the necessary support. Below are some common indicators via Safe Austin:

Relationships

• Individuals may be in or seek out unhealthy romantic relationships.
• Associates might use nicknames to conceal their identities.
• They may connect with others online through social media.
• There may be claims of intimate relationships with older individuals.
• They often need to check in with someone before making decisions about their future.

Power & Control

• Signs of physical abuse, such as scars or bruises, may be present.
• Victims may have names tattooed on their bodies, indicating ownership.
• They may possess belongings beyond their means but lack control over their finances or identification.
• Having multiple phones or frequently changing numbers is common.
• Victims may wear sexually provocative clothing or display gang colors and symbols.

Coming and Going

• Victims may be transported to and from work or may live and work in vague locations.
• They often come and go at odd hours, indicating a lack of normalcy in their routines.
• An extreme need to be accessible to specific individuals at all times may be evident.
• They might fear for their safety but still return to the source of their fear.

Employment

• Victims may frequently seek employment, yet have their needs met through questionable means.
• They may work long or unusual hours.
• There may be openness about engaging in "tricks" or relationships with "sugar daddy" figures.

Mental Health

• Substance use or a history of substance use disorders may be present.
• Attachment trauma and complex PTSD are common among victims.
• Victims may demonstrate unexpected fits of extreme fear, sadness, or rage.
• They may isolate themselves, express suicidal ideation, or attempt self-harm.

Receiving Help

• Victims may be avoidant or resistant to receiving assistance, whether financial, social, or medical.
• There may be a deep distrust of service providers.
• Despite having high needs, they may struggle with follow-through or frequently cancel appointments.

What to Do if You Suspect Human Trafficking

If you observe suspicious behavior or events, your response can make a difference. Here are steps to take:

• If you see a suspicious event, report it immediately. Those moments matter.
• NEVER approach the victim or trafficker during an interaction.
• In emergencies, call 911 if you believe you have witnessed human trafficking. Your call may save a life.
• For non-emergencies and to remain anonymous, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-3737-888.
• Provide actionable information: descriptions of vehicles, individuals, times, dates, and locations. If safe, take a photo.
• If a client in your care makes an emergency outcry, call SAFELine (512.267.SAFE) and request an On-Call CARES Advocate.

For more information on recognizing and responding to human trafficking, please visit Safe Austin.