The Lover-Boy Method: It Can Happen to Anyone

Our team in Europe knew a woman we'll call Naomi. She was a law student. After many years working as a professional, she had gone back to school. She was a smart, confident, and savvy person.

One day, she bumped into one of her former co-workers online. He told her he had moved to a Western European country and started working in electronics. He had learned the local language there. He said he was doing very well.

They talked a lot after that. Naomi was so happy to have reconnected with this kind, sweet man. On her birthday, they chatted online. He taught her how to do a "toast" in the local language.

Then one day, Naomi thought she saw other people in the room with her beau when they were chatting. She asked who they were, but the man waved it off. At that moment, Naomi knew something was off. She contacted our team. In turn, our team connected with law enforcement in the man's country.

It turned out the man had already been convicted of a cyber-crime and was under investigation. After a while longer, the police traced him to a server with 14 computers and phones. He was selling recordings of Naomi from their conversations, and particularly the "toast" he had her say on her birthday. He had superimposed images of her face in disgusting ways. Authorities arrested him.

Naomi was mortified, terrified, and relieved at the same time. When police uncovered the server he was using, she had been planning to go visit him. It's likely that she would have been sold into slavery.

Naomi's story illustrates two things:

1) It's VITAL to educate people on how to spot suspicious situations and keep an eye out for traffickers' manipulations. She was a grown, educated woman. She was not naive, and she was still almost in danger.

2) The Freedom Highway, a collaboration of law enforcement, medical professionals, churches, and more across Europe and beyond is so important for catching traffickers and keeping women safe.

You have already done so much to build this Freedom Highway and to keep women like Naomi SAFE. Will you share her story today and invite someone else to join this fight?

Together, we can be the generation that ends trafficking once and for all.

How Trafficking Happens: Debt Bondage

If we want to stop trafficking before it ever happens, it’s critical that we know the signs of trafficking and how trafficking happens. Today, we want to tell you about one of the ways trafficking happens, debt bondage. Alongside the Lover-boy method, Debt Bondage is one of the most common schemes traffickers use to enslave people.

Debt bondage is a specific tactic traffickers use to trap people and then exploit them for sex or labor. It starts when a trafficker offers their prospective victim a job. Usually, a trafficker will target someone who is economically vulnerable, like a single mother or a person living in poverty. Of course, this is not always the case, sometimes traffickers target others who they think will make them more money.

Whomever they approach, they usually spend some time getting to know the victim and gaining their trust. Then, they’ll offer them the job, usually away from the victim’s home town. On the way to the job, the trafficker will pay for some costs like transportation, lodging, or a phone.

When they arrive at the city where the “job” supposedly is, the trafficker will say that the victim needs to pay them back for all of the “debt” they incurred on the journey. The trafficker will say things like, “I paid for your transportation, lodging, your phone -- you owe me for all of those things.”

Of course, at this point the victim is far away from home, friends, and resources. She has no way to pay the trafficker back. Often times she's in a place where she doesn't speak the local language. That’s when the trafficker will say that the only way to pay off the debt is to sell her. The trafficker will exploit her for sex or labor, taking all of the money from her abuse to pay off the “debt.” To enslave her even deeper, the trafficker will continue to “charge” her for food and wherever she’s staying, adding to the debt. Even worse, some traffickers will say the debt is accruing interest, too. Together, these schemes mean that the victim will never be able to repay the debt. She is now a slave.

We have rescued survivors from all across Europe who were enslaved through debt bondage. Right now, members of our Freedom Highway are supporting survivors in a specific Western European country. This country has a beautiful coastline that attracts many tourists during the summer. Our team rescued Romanian women who were brought to the coastline under the idea that they would have jobs in the legitimate tourism and hospitality industry. Instead, they were forced into sex trafficking.

Open the door: Ending Debt Bondage Once and for All

Uncaged is working to prevent traffickers from using debt bondage in two key ways.

First, we are EDUCATING women and girls about the schemes traffickers use to target them. This education includes debt bondage, encouraging women and girls to get someone they trust to review any labor offers and to avoid traveling out of their community with someone offering them a job if they can. You can help spread this education far and wide by signing our SPEAK UP petition asking the Romanian government to use our curriculum in elementary schools.

Second, Uncaged knows that people are a lot less vulnerable to debt bondage if they already have a sustainable way to live. We’re collaborating with local schools to hold classes for communities in Romania. This is one of the reasons we’re partnering with local universities to get survivors certificates in certain professions. It’s why we make sure every survivor leaves our program with a marketable skill and job she can use to sustain herself and her family. You can drive this work forward by clicking here.

Trafficking is run by organized crime. But now the good guys are getting organized, too. We are here to unlock transformation for every survivor we can find. We are opening the door to a world without slavery by changing laws and educating the people so they can rise up and protect themselves.

Let’s keep fighting to end trafficking once and for all. We hold the keys to freedom!

Trafficked in Your Own Home

Can you even imagine being trafficked in your own home, and by your husband?! This was the story for Talyssa. She had the courage to reach out and ask for help while evading her husband’s gaze. Our team swooped in and rescued Talyssa and her 2 precious children just days ago. Talyssa’s husband is an influential lawyer. He forced her to have sex with his friends and a variety of customers. He threatened that she’d be kicked out to live out on the streets if she didn’t. He would keep the kids and do God knows what with them. Talyssa did what he said. It may sound like she was naive, like she should have fought from the beginning, but the truth is she was severely manipulated and brainwashed. She feared for her children. Her husband would make his demands under the guise of ‘If you love me….” After exploiting her, Talyssa’s husband would bring her a rose. He thought it would wash away her trauma.

He forced her to sign documents that took all her assets. And then, from her earnings as a sex slave he was able to purchase 3 large apartments. Talyssa has never set foot in those apartments. Our team is investigating to see if they are being used to traffic other women like Talyssa. Right now, it seems like her husband could be part of a much broader trafficking ring. Talyssa’s nightmare began to end when a concerned church member notified our team. This is the power of knowing the signs of trafficking! The church member saw bruises on Talyssa’s neck and arms. We began to investigate. Discreetly, they found a way to get our information to Talyssa. She took the courageous step of reaching out to us when she saw an opportunity, and we were ready to act!

Your support not only rescued Talyssa but also her 2 small children. 3 lives saved. Now begins the hard work of restoration. Right now, they are broken physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually. But we know Talyssa has the courage to survive and keep her children safe. Our ultimate goal is to see her healed, restored, with a sustaining career and stable life. With the right support, we know she will achieve it. We will keep you posted as this family of 3 progresses. You are unlocking the cage for women like Talyssa and her children.