Holiday travel ‘presents opportunity’ for sex traffickers.

While reports of human trafficking do not necessarily increase during the holiday season, the busiest shopping and transportation hubs can make it easier for traffickers to escape. criminal activity.

There are some key signs of human trafficking that concerned citizens should look out for if they suspect nefarious activity, according to experts working to combat the global trafficking crisis. Department of Homeland Security Defines “modern slavery” as “the use of force, fraud, or coercion.”

“Child sex trafficking happens 365 days a year in small towns, big cities across the country, and that certainly includes the holidays,” said Vice President of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s (NCMEC’s) Analytical Services Division. Staca Shehan told Fox. News Digital. “Victims of trafficking don’t get the same day off or vacation that many of us do. That being said, though, our data is based on national child sex trafficking statistics around the holidays, particularly November through January. Does not show an increase in reports to the center.”

However, he noted that the holidays are a busy time of year during which “people can be distracted, distracted” or “focus too much on the fact that the holidays should be a happy time.”

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“And that can lead to missed opportunities to identify red flags,” Sheehan said. “We know that traffickers take advantage of any kind of opportunity. Children and teenagers, they’re usually in school and around these holidays. They’re locked up for a long time. And that means People who often have opportunities to see signs or red flags such as teachers, school resource officers, school nurses … may not have these opportunities during the holidays. [to identify red flags]”

While home may be a safe place for some children, for others, it may be where their trafficker lives, and that person may have “enhanced access” to the victim while the victim is home from school. happens and the trafficker is home from work. Holidays can be there too. Substance or domestic abuse problems Visiting children’s homes encourages them to run away and therefore become potential targets for human traffickers.

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Retired New York Police Department (NYPD) Sgt. Paul Gretton Jr., managing director of public safety consulting firm Gray Point Strategies, similarly said that while there isn’t much reliable data showing a significant increase in human trafficking during the holiday season, “there are certain situations during the holidays that make it can make it easier for smugglers.”

“[T]That increase in travel provides opportunities for traffickers to move individuals or find potential victims traveling alone…”

– Paul Gretton, Ret. The NYPD

“Vulnerable people are prime targets for traffickers, especially when they take advantage to coerce potential victims. The holidays can be a difficult time of year for many who have been separated from family or drug addiction. “Have been ostracized by loved ones because of personal struggles with, alcohol, or crime,” Grattan said.

“Similarly, the increase in travel creates opportunities for traffickers to move individuals or potential victims traveling alone or attempting to travel or find means home themselves.”

New statistics, Gratton explained, “such as calls to trafficking hotlines and cases prosecuted by U.S. attorneys, point to a dramatic increase in trafficking over the past ten years.”

“The increase in immigrants crossing the border is a big part of that — because people who want a better life in America are much more vulnerable,” said the former NYPD officer. “Evidence supports that much of human trafficking is rooted in forced labor—something that allows criminals to cross the border, seek asylum in the United States, earn money, support other family members, and stay close to family.” Sojourners try to take advantage of immigrants who are already here.”

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Trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry that preys on the vulnerable, including children and adults. Human trafficking has an estimated annual global profit of $150 billion, according to the Department of Homeland Security, targeting an estimated 25 million people worldwide, with approximately 80 percent of victims forced into labor and 20 percent into sex trafficking.

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Often, a child knows their trafficker, whether the trafficker is a member of their own family or a close family friend. However, traffickers can also be strangers when they are alone in public places.

“It includes large-scale businesses, so hotels, motels, shopping centers, convenience stores, truck stops would be one of them,” Sheehan said. “But it also includes places where families go. So they might be shopping for the holidays and someone might be monitoring or eavesdropping on that conversation … where there are some of these red flags. Unfortunately, the situation is this: almost any area or location or physical location is an opportunity.”

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Another place where human trafficking can occur, or at least be initiated, is online. Predators often use social media apps and gaming systems in an attempt to contact and groom children from behind a screen before convincing the child to meet in person.

“We know that the use of the Internet is very high among teenagers, and it’s a place where vulnerabilities can be more apparent, where there can be conversations about things that a child is struggling with or they’re struggling with. Some of the challenges they face — it could be housing instability, that their family is in poverty. It could be a situation where they’re talking about abuse or neglect at home,” Sheehan explained. of “And traffickers are well aware that they will use that child as a point of manipulation to target and … manipulate them into a false sense of safety, security or care or well-being.”

According to Sheehan, there are certain signs to look for if they suspect someone is being trafficked.

“There are things people can watch for, and they include signs of physical or sexual abuse, signs of neglect or malnutrition, signs that the child is unwilling or unable to answer a question. And that they let others speak for them, or they might appear to be a lost child who has run away and has material possessions that don’t match their access to money,” Sheehan said.

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If a child is “unwilling or unable or very reluctant” to attend school, if a child has many “unexplained absences” or if he is “known to fall asleep in class,” all There may be signs of possible trafficking or other abuse. According to NCMEC expert.

Sheehan said tattoos of symbols of wealth, such as branding, are incompatible with child ownership.

If you are being trafficked or suspect someone you know is being trafficked, contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST or CYBERTIPLINE.ORG.