Have I experienced human trafficking?

Before you keep reading, you should know the content below talks about human trafficking, sexual abuse, child sexual abuse material, as well as force, fraud, and coercion. Reading about these topics and thinking about things you have experienced can trigger frightening thoughts and strong emotions.

If you have any thoughts of harming yourself, please stop reading and contact a safe adult immediately. You can also call 988 which is a Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Before continuing, it is a good idea to take a moment and practice mindfulness, drink some water, take a few deep breaths, and/or use a coping skill. If you feel yourself getting upset while reading, you can take a break and again do something mindful, use coping skills, etc. If you experienced human trafficking or any other kind of harm, it is not your fault. Help is available. You can call the Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-3737-888.

This section was created in collaboration with lived experts who have experienced human trafficking. This section was also created using resources and materials from the Polaris Project.

Am I experiencing human trafficking?

The following questions are for you to ask yourself. Each question asks about something that could be a sign of human trafficking. Read each question and think about your answer. Then, read how the question relates to human trafficking. Often people don’t realize that they are experiencing human trafficking when it is happening. Sometimes they don’t realize until much later when the experience is behind them. You can use these questions to reflect on things in your life that could be signs of human trafficking.

Have you ever had sex in exchange for money or something else valuable when you were under 18?

How it relates: If you did a sexual act in exchange for money or something else valuable when you were under 18, it is sex trafficking under the law. Because you were under 18, it was sex trafficking even if:

• you were not forced, threatened, pressured, or lied to,
• the sexual act was your idea,
• you set the situation up by yourself, and
• only you received the money or something of value.

Have you ever had sex in exchange for money or something else valuable when you were over 18?

How it relates: If you did a sexual act in exchange for money or something else valuable because someone forced, threatened, pressured, or lied to you, this is sex trafficking under the law.

In all cases, this is not your fault, and support services are available.

Have you ever felt like you had to do a sexual act so that you could have food, clothing, a place to stay, or something else?

How it relates: If you were forced or pressured into doing a sexual act:

• So that you could have food, clothing, a place to stay,
• If someone threatened to take away food, clothing, or anything else from you
• If someone threatened to kick you out of where you were living,
• If someone lied to you by saying they would give you food, clothing, a place to stay, or something else for free and later made you do a sexual act because you “owed” them,

These are all examples of sex trafficking.

Remember: If you were under 18, it was sex trafficking even if you were not forced, threatened, pressured, or lied to.

Have you ever felt like you had to do a sexual act in order for someone to keep you safe?

How it relates: If someone made you do a sexual act and in exchange they promised to keep you safe, this is sex trafficking.

Has anyone ever forced or pressured you to have sex with another person, do sexual acts, or share sexual pictures?

How it relates: A person or a group might force, pressure, or encourage you to have sex with another person as a test to see if that is something they can make you do. They might force, pressure, or encourage you to have sex with another person with or without telling you that they are going to get money or something of value in return. This is sex trafficking, even if it felt normal, mutual, or like being part of a group.

Sexual acts or pictures are shared in exchange for money, rides, food, drugs, housing, attention, protection, or belonging, and you are under 18, this is sex trafficking even if you were not forced, threatened, pressured, or lied to.

Have you ever run away or left your home or foster care placement?

How it relates: When youth run away or leave their home or foster placement, they have to figure out how to get food, clothing, a place to stay, showers, friends, connection, and support. Sometimes that support comes from people outside the system, including those you may think of as chosen family, online, through friends, or in the community.

Not everyone who offers help is unsafe. However, unsafe people may offer to give support for free so they can take advantage of your situation later on. At first, they may act like they are giving you things because they care about you and want to help you, but then things may start the change. They might give you things so you open up to them, trust them, and/or rely on them so that they can get you to do things you don’t want to do later on.

If you get into an unsafe situation and experience trafficking, it is not your fault. It is important to learn about how situations can be taken advantage of so that you can protect yourself.

Are you in a relationship with someone older?

How it relates: Many traffickers seek out youth and young adults. Generally, it easier for traffickers to take advantage of young people because traffickers can give young people things (such as a place to stay) that they most times cannot get for themselves.

Sometimes, being in foster care, being able to tell what is safe or unsafe can be confusing. of When you’ve had to adapt, survive, or grow up quickly, things that might feel uncomfortable or risky to others can feel normal.

A trafficker might try to convince you that the difference in your ages make sense by saying things like, “You’re mature for your age.” This is a strategy many traffickers use to make you think a situation is normal when it is actually unsafe. 

A youth in foster care may see someone trying to manipulate (or control) and think they can handle it on their own because they’ve already been through a lot. It’s important to remember that adults are still responsible, and power differences matter. When adults blur those lines, situations can quickly become unsafe.

Has an older person ever offered money, gifts, housing, or support in exchange for sex or sexual pictures?

How it relates: Sometimes an older person offers things like money, gifts, rides, a place to stay, or help with bills while expecting sex or sexual images in return. This can feel like a relationship, support at first. However, if they expect sexual acts or pictures in return and you are under 18, this is a form of sex trafficking. Sometimes these are called “sugar mamas” or “sugar daddies”. If you are over 18, this might be sex trafficking, especially if your partner is controlling, abusive, and promises money or necessities but refuses to give them to you until after you have sex.

Does someone else buy you expensive clothes and make up or pay for you to get your hair, nails, and/or lashes done?

How it relates: Sometimes people offer money, gifts, or support that feels helpful or caring at first. If they do this and then expect you to perform sexual acts, this is sex trafficking.

This is not your fault.

Do you frequently hang out or sleep at hotels/motels?

How it relates: Sex trafficking often happens at hotels/motels. Also, traffickers and the people they are trafficking often move from place to place to avoid being caught by police or hotel staff. Short-term stays, especially in motels, make it harder for people to find you.

Has anyone ever put pictures of you online?

How it relates: Some traffickers put pictures of people they are trafficking online to advertise that those people are available for sex or labor trafficking. A trafficker might advertise on websites where people buy and sell things (online marketplaces), on social media, or on dating apps. Sometimes, traffickers use a person’s pictures to make fake social media accounts and fake dating profiles. People interacting with these accounts think they are interacting with the person in the pictures when really a trafficker is running the account.

Has anyone ever taken pictures or videos of you doing sexual acts or showing your private body parts? Has anyone asked you to send these kinds of pictures to them?

How it relates: Some traffickers sell these pictures or videos to other people for money. Some traffickers use these photos to advertise what you look like to people who want to pay for sexual acts. Sometimes traffickers threaten to leak these kinds of pictures in order to make you do things you don’t want to do. This is called online sexual exploitation.

Has anyone told you to say something untrue to people who could be trying to help you such as the police, doctors and nurses, teachers, or the Department of Children and Families?

How it relates: If you are experiencing sex trafficking, your traffickers might tell you what story you should tell other people, such as police officers, doctors, teachers, and child protective services. They might tell you not to speak to these people at all. This is because police, doctors, etc. may ask questions to see if you are healthy and safe. Traffickers are scared that they will get in trouble if you tell the truth, so they teach you something that is not true to say instead.

Is anyone keeping you from going to school or the doctor?

How it relates: Traffickers usually don’t want the people they are trafficking to be around other people who know them and who care if they are healthy and safe. This is because people who know you or care about you might realize you are not okay and worry that you are being trafficked. Traffickers are scared they will get in trouble if people who care about you see you and realize something is wrong.

Also, traffickers may keep you from going to school by forcing you to work or engage in sexual acts during school hours or so late at night that you sleep during the day.

Do you have any tattoos or marks that someone else forced you or pressured you to get?

How it relates: If you are experiencing trafficking, your trafficker might force, pressure, or convince you to get a tattoo. These tattoos are often done outside of a tattoo parlor or not during normal business hours, especially for people who are not yet old enough to get a tattoo. A trafficker might convince you to get a tattoo by saying it is a symbol of loyalty. The tattoo is actually to show that the trafficker “owns” you or has control over your body. Commonly found in tattoos on people experiencing trafficking:

• Symbols of possession: a trafficker’s name, nickname, or initials, sometimes with hearts and/or numbers; “Property of ___” or “___’s girl”
• Symbols of wealth: dollar signs, diamonds, crowns, money bags, barcodes
• Curse words
• Signs of gang affiliation: certain numbers associated with a gang, dates
• Acronyms that stand for certain phrases (for example, “HUSH” for “Hustle Until Something Happens”)

Has anyone threatened to harm you or someone you care about?

How it relates: If you are experiencing trafficking, your traffickers might threaten to harm you and your loved ones to keep being in control of what you do. Threats can be about other things besides physical harm. Threats of harm can also be threats to damage your reputation or the reputation of your loved ones as well. Traffickers might use threats to make you do sexual acts and/or work. They might also use threats to stop you from telling people the truth or getting help. They might say things like:

“No one will believe you.”

“You’ll get in trouble.”

“You’ll lose your placement.”

“Things will get worse if you tell.”

Has anyone threatened to have you or someone you care about deported?

How it relates: Traffickers might threaten to have you and/or your loved ones deported to keep being in control of what you do. Traffickers might threaten to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement themselves to make you work or engage in sexual acts. If you are an undocumented immigrant, traffickers might also try to convince you that you can’t get help because if you ask someone to help you, that person will report you to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There are programs that protect undocumented immigrants who are victims of human trafficking. Talk to an immigration attorney for more information.

If you traveled to where you live from another country, did you or your family have to pay someone else to set up your travel?

How it relates: If someone else set up your travel from another country to where you live, and you or your family had to pay them back by doing sexual acts or by working for little to no money, you have experienced human trafficking. If someone else set up your travel and that person lied to you about where you were going or what you would be doing when you got there, you may have experienced human trafficking. “Travel” means any way of getting from one place to another. It can include car travel, bus ride, boat ride, flight, or even someone leading you to go a certain way while you walk on foot.

Do you have a debt that you cannot pay off or a debt that is so large it will take an extremely long time to pay off?

How it relates: A trafficker might do something for you (for example, they might drive you somewhere or give you a place to live) and then say that you owe them for what they did. The trafficker will try to convince you that, in order to pay the debt, you must do what they say (usually working for little to no pay or doing sexual acts).

Has anyone ever tricked you by offering you one kind of job, but when you got to where you would be working, you had to do something different instead?

How it relates: If you have experienced trafficking, you may have been told that there is a good job opportunity somewhere. You decided to go there to get a good job and work, but when you got there, the working conditions and environment were different from what you had been told, promised, or believed. For example, you may have found out you would actually be doing sexual acts or working for little to no money. People who leave their home country to go to a new country to work are more likely to experience this kind of trafficking.

FosterPower provides information on the benefits, protections, and legal rights of children in Florida’s foster care system and does not include opinions. FosterPower is a non-partisan and independent project that is not affiliated with a government agency or organization. FosterPower is updated frequently, but you should always verify the law independently to ensure it is current.