The girl was found 11 days after her abduction thanks to an organization’s use of face-recognition technology that helped identify her pictures — nude photos posted in online sex ads.
Reading this news story was an eye-opener. Working in the identity and fraud prevention industry brought to light the numerous unintentional missteps that occurred along this girl’s horrific trafficking timeline. Had more people been armed with the right knowledge, tools and protocols, this story could have been prevented, not just for her but for the stories happening worldwide. I have seen firsthand what technology and training across industries where it most frequently occurs can help make a difference in stopping this from happening.
Human Trafficking Touches Many Industries
To better understand what can help stop human trafficking, it’s important to know the context. Human trafficking happens almost anywhere imaginable. Grooming and recruitment can start on social media, and solicitation can spread across several online marketplaces. The UN has found that in 10 years of nearly 8,000 international trafficking victims, 80% passed through official border points, like airports. In a study on the health consequences of human trafficking, about 88% of the 106 participants reported having contact with a healthcare provider while being trafficked.
Large gatherings like sporting events, festivals, concerts and conferences are ideal for traffickers to stake out and prostitute their victims. Traffickers may also take their victims to beauty salons to prepare for a night of work, and research has shown they are also forced into unpaid illicit labor in places like nail salons or massage parlors.
Hotels are often the venue of choice for human trafficking as well. Traffickers will typically get fake IDs online for themselves and their victims. Most hotels verify IDs by the human eye, and few employees are trained to spot a fake. Even with training, humans are unable to detect the small intricacies of fakes that sophisticated AI technology and other tools can.
If hotels, or essentially any business that required an ID, leveraged identity verification technology, they could do two essential things to combat trafficking: first, detect if the ID was a fake, and second, use facial recognition technology to compare the face against criminal watchlists and missing persons’ reports.
Training People to Spot the Signs
Trafficking is a crime often described as “hidden in plain sight” because they often walk among us in public places, but a victim’s fear and trauma keep them from seeking help. Because of some misconceptions dominating the public perception of human trafficking, few people have the skills to see past those defenses and detect the warning signs. Leveraging technology is a good start to combat human trafficking, but for a bulletproof approach, we need to educate people in these industries to identify suspicious behavior and telltale signs of traffickers and their victims.
We need to understand how traffickers lure victims in, who might be more vulnerable and the different signs that might indicate a victim so traffickers have fewer places to get away with their crimes. Reach out to established non-profit organizations, like the Knoble or others, invested in raising awareness about human trafficking for training resources and programs. Many are even free because the mission behind these companies is stopping a potentially horrific crime — not driving profits. Create a training curriculum and make it a company-wide effort for everyone to learn. The more eyes are on the task of spotting human trafficking, the more people can stop it.
Share Resources Because It’s the Right Thing To Do
It is estimated that the forced labor economy generates $150 billion in profits each year. At an estimated $99 billion market value, the sex trafficking “industry” has never been larger. One of the largest trafficking studies to date claims that only about 0.04% of cases are reported, which means an estimated 35 million people are victims of sex trafficking every day. Globally, nearly 20% of those victims are children. By partnering together, identity solution providers and companies in affected industries have the power to make a difference. Businesses that offer training and technology to fight this can empower others (and themselves in that partnership) to make a difference.
My organization is embarking on a pilot program in Miami this fall in alliance with a team of other organizations that share our mission of stopping trafficking. Our company is donating its identity verification technology through our All4Humanity Alliance organization to aid law enforcement in finding traffickers and victims. Organizations that we have partnered with, including OneCommunityUSA, the Community Police Relations Foundation, DeliverFund and More Too Life are implementing, assisting, training and equipping stakeholders to help curb the issue of human trafficking.
Both training and technology are vital components in stopping human trafficking. Training turns more people into potential heroes who can speak up and warn authorities when they witness suspicious behavior. Technology can broaden those capabilities further by preventing traffickers from hiding behind fake identities. One or the other alone is a good start and with both, you can do even better.
For the industries this crime affects, investing in the technology and training to combat it is a matter of corporate responsibility, but it can also affect the bottom line. Traffickers may use stolen credit cards that lead to chargebacks and loss of revenue. They may invite unwanted guests, weapons or drugs into the premises, which can increase the risk of danger for other guests. Business owners should not only want to protect their clients from that criminal activity and the potential threats it brings, but they should also want to protect their reputation from becoming known as an unsafe place that facilitates human trafficking.
I believe technology, and specifically the technology of my company, can help save people from a tragic fate, and it’s part of the mission-driven purpose to do our part in dismantling those criminal networks. Technology isn’t the only option, however. Every individual citizen can empower themselves with the knowledge of how to identify human traffickers and their victims. Knowledge is wealth, and in this case, knowledge saves lives. Together, we can bring human trafficking to a stop before it happens. Will you join me?
