by Nolan McKendry
Human trafficking brings in $236 billion dollars a year, according to the International Labor Organization.
Microsoft’s 2023 revenue totaled $212 billion.
The U.S. Department of State estimates that there are 27 million people worldwide who are “exploited for labor, services, and commercial sex,” according to the 2024 Trafficking in Persons report.
The report details the efforts being taken – and not taken – around the globe.
While human trafficking is primarily thought of as the physical movement of humans, there is a need to understand the phenomena in a more nuanced way, Kelsey Morgan told The Center Square.
Morgan is co-founder and chief program officer of EverFree, a non-profit working to support human trafficking survivors.
Because extortion methods have significantly evolved in the digital age, their use in facilitating human trafficking has as well.
“You can be trafficked in your own home,” Morgan said.
Traditional methods of physical extortion have been augmented by sophisticated cyber extortion tactics. Increasingly, traffickers are using online platforms to facilitate various forms of extortion, ranging from forced labor and services to outright financial demands.
“A trafficker may create an online business website, perhaps posing as a talent recruiter, on which they often include realistic photos to gain a victim’s trust and make them believe the opportunity is authentic and will help … improve their life,” according to the report.
The report also says that the narratives surrounding human trafficking are sensationalized and do not accurately reflect the range of experiences and incentives for human trafficking.
“What you usually see is a rescue story,” Morgan said. “There is no back story.”
Morgan says that the vulnerabilities exploited by traffickers are not sufficiently talked about or understood.
Individuals struggling with poverty, natural disaster or war are common victims who may be easily exploitable, according to the report.
In the fight against human trafficking, the internet is used in both ways – simultaneously working to facilitate and combat it.
“Traffickers adapt their schemes to take advantage of the obscurity available with new online tools, such as hiding behind anonymization tools or software, and benefiting from loose regulations of online platforms,” the report said.
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Nolan McKendry is a contributor for The Center Square.
Photo “Illegal Immigrants” by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
