Human Trafficking Can Happen Anywhere, Even at Your Business

Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries in the world; but could your business be at risk of accidentally facilitating kidnapping and trafficking?

According to the Department of Justice, 1,656 people were prosecuted for human trafficking in the U.S. in 2022 (the last year for which data is available). Globally, according to the United Nations, 74,785 victims of trafficking were detected the same year. Both of these numbers represent a post-pandemic increase in trafficking, and numbers are likely to rise further.

What does this have to do with your business? Traffickers often exploit legal business to find, groom, abduct, move, and hide victims. We’ve already written about how movie theaters can be an attractive place for traffickers to snatch teens, but any business can be exploited, from online platforms to the hospitality industry. If kids, teens, and young people tend to gather at your business, your site might be a hunting ground for human traffickers.

10 things all businesses should know about human trafficking

1. Yes, it could happen at your site: Awareness is the first and often the most important part of preventing crime. It’s important to accept the fact that bad things, like abduction or trafficking, can happen at your business. Once you’re aware it can happen, you can start being proactive instead of reactive.

2. Your parking area or curbside is a danger zone: When kids are waiting for a ride outside a restaurant, movie theater, or store, they’re vulnerable. For one thing, they believe they are alone and will often push boundaries. For another, they can easily be approached by criminals or abducted. Find a way to keep them in your establishment while they’re waiting for a ride. Their parents or guardians will text when they’re outside.

3. Kids don’t necessarily know about trafficking: Schools may not be teaching kids about the behaviors of criminals. They may not realize that traffickers groom victims online or how they may abduct kids from public places, so it’s important that you and your staff are aware of the possibilities.

4. If a victim is being trafficked at your location, they’re probably not local: Traffickers want easy-to-control victims. Victims are often kept sedated and moved from place to place. If a victim escapes and comes to your location for help, they are likely to be from another state, and may not know anyone in the area.

5. It’s important to have a police presence: If possible make sure there’s a police presence either at your site or at least in the area. The sooner an abduction is reported, the sooner a victim can be found — criminals are often less likely to abduct someone if police are visible.

6. Don’t underestimate the importance of cameras: Your place of business should have cameras and good lighting both inside and outside. In case of an incident, you should be able to easily provide law enforcement with video of the criminal and victim, car, and license plate.

7. Nonprofits and law enforcement agencies are here to help: If you want to keep on top of human trafficking trends, start by talking to the nonprofits who are involved in this work, as well as to state police, which is more likely to handle trafficking cases than the local police department. These agencies can tell you more about trends, like which age groups are being abducted and from where.

Protect your people and your reputation

Human trafficking is often thought of as an international crime; you may think of young women kidnapped abroad and brought to the U.S. illegally, but that’s not necessarily the case. The National Human Trafficking Hotline’s 2024 data reports trafficking incidents and victims in every state and territory.

Victims may be your customers, their kids, or even your younger employees. When they’re on your site, it’s important to keep them safe. From parking lots to social spaces, traffickers exploit the blind spots organizations don’t know they have. The good news is that awareness and proactive security planning can make a real difference.

Circadian Risk helps organizations identify and close those vulnerabilities before they’re exploited. Our platform enables you to assess physical and behavioral risks, uncover blind spots, and build comprehensive mitigation plans — all tailored to your specific environment.

Don’t wait until it’s too late to find out where your risks lie. Take the first step toward protecting your people, your customers, and your brand.

Contact us for your risk-free demo today.

About the Author

Daniel Young

Founder & Chief Innovation Officer

Daniel has been a security and risk advisor for more than 10 years, and is passionate about helping companies to better understand their risks to undesirable events on a daily basis. Dan previously served as the Regional Bioterrorism Coordinator for District 1 in Michigan, where he was instrumental in preparing communities for catastrophic incidents. He has also acted as the Private Security Liaison for the City of Lansing’s Critical Infrastructure Team, which identified and documented deficiencies in the city’s critical infrastructure.

He is a Co-Founder of the CSO Risk Council, a think tank of seasoned security professionals and thought leaders with extensive experience in managing the physical security and risks of large enterprises consisting of multiple sites and whose mission is to create a better process to develop and share innovative solutions and pertinent information with organizations to improve safety and security risk by providing a forum to discuss best practices and recommendations for specific risk scenarios and to network with other enterprise security professionals.