Title: What is Human Trafficking? | National Human Trafficking Hotline
Headings: What is Human Trafficking?
What is Human Trafficking?
What human trafficking is, and isn’t
Force, fraud, or coercion
Action-Means-Purpose
How many people are trafficked in the U.S. every year?
Who is vulnerable?
Who are the traffickers?
How do traffickers control victims?
Who are the survivors?
Human Trafficking

Content: Who are the traffickers? Perpetrators of human trafficking span all racial, ethnic, and gender demographics and are as diverse as survivors. Some use their privilege, wealth, and power as a means of control while others experience the same socio-economic oppression as their victims. They include individuals, business owners, members of a gang or network, parents or family members of victims, intimate partners, owners of farms or restaurants, and powerful corporate executives and government representatives. How do traffickers control victims? Traffickers employ a variety of control tactics, the most common include physical and emotional abuse and threats, isolation from friends and family, and economic abuse. 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. Who are the survivors? Victims and survivors of human trafficking represent every race and ethnicity but some forms of trafficking are more likely to affect specific ethnic groups.