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Human trafficking is when people are tricked, forced, or taken advantage of so others can make money from their work or bodies. There are a few main types:

• Sex trafficking: This happens when someone is forced, tricked, or scared into doing sexual things for money — like prostitution, pornography, stripping, or certain types of massages.
• Labor trafficking: This happens when people are made to work very hard for little or no pay. They’re often threatened or lied to so they can’t leave. It happens most in places like farms, factories, restaurants, and construction. People who sell things door-to-door can also be victims.
• Domestic servitude: This is when people work as housekeepers or nannies and live in the home where they work. They’re often not allowed to leave, and they work very long hours for little or no money.

. Many people who experience this are immigrants. The people who hire them might take their ID papers and threaten to have them deported if they try to get help or leave.

Hmman trafficking is on the rise across the U.S. and  North Carolina is among the most affected states. Major interstate highways, a large and transient military population, numerous rural agricultural areas with a high demand for cheap labor, and more make the state a vulnerable place. North Carolina ranks in the top 10 of human trafficking cases.  

• Human trafficking can happen without moving a person. It can happen right in someone’s home or neighborhood.
• The trafficker is often someone the victim knows and trusts — like a family member, friend, boyfriend/girlfriend, boss, or job recruiter.
• Anyone can become a victim. Traffickers often go after people who are already struggling — like those who are poor, don’t have a job, have been hurt before, or have no stable place to live.
• In the U.S., if a child (under 18) is involved in any sex work, it is always human trafficking — no matter what. For adults, it’s human trafficking if someone is forced, tricked, or threatened into it.
• People can be forced into sex or work through many ways, like: physical abuse or threats, being locked in or controlled, being scared their family will be hurt not being allowed to leave or talk to others, having their ID or money taken away, being tricked with fake job offers or promises, and being threatened with shame or blackmail.