There are many signs and indicators of human trafficking and this list shows some of the common ones. Now, some of these are easy to identify when you look at or talk to another person. But some of them may be more subtle and you may not necessarily see them when you first interact with someone. It’s important to note that this list of signs and indicators is not a definitive list. And no one individual is going to have all of these. Sometimes you may notice only one or two signs, but that’s enough to raise a concern that they may be a victim of trafficking.

In the course Introduction, you are presented with two trafficking stories. In one, there is a story about Theresa who said that when she was being trafficked, over one semester, her grades fell from As to Cs and Ds, she quit the track team, and she was falling asleep in school. She also went from being shy but happy-go-lucky to depressed, sullen, and silent. In the story, you hear about how her teachers and her parents knew something was wrong but thought it was just teenage angst. In both of these stories, you can see how these students would have been displaying the “red flags” of trafficking.