How criminals exploit their victims
In this section:
| 1. Modern slavery and human trafficking |
| 2. How you can spot modern slavery and human trafficking |
| 3. How criminals exploit their victims |
| 4. Report modern slavery and human trafficking |
| 5. Support for victims of modern slavery and human trafficking |
The ways that victims of modern slavery or human trafficking are exploited can vary. They may not fit the stereotype of people being forced to work in fields or in nail bars.
If you think someone is being exploited in any of these ways, or if you are being exploited in any of these ways, you can report it to us.
Criminal exploitation
This is when victims of modern slavery or human trafficking are forced, threatened or tricked into committing crimes like:
- shoplifting
- pickpocketing
- organised begging
- stealing fuel from cars
- financial crimes, including benefit fraud
- sham marriage
Drugs
Some victims are forced to work as cannabis growers. Others are used to distribute or sell drugs.
County lines is one form of criminal exploitation. This is where vulnerable people, often children, are used to carry drugs from cities to sell them in nearby towns and the countryside.
Find out more about county lines.
Sexual exploitation
Victims are forced or pressured into sex work or to perform sexual acts while being controlled by their exploiter. This includes escort work, pornography or making indecent images of children.
Most victims of sexual exploitation are women and children, but men can also be affected.
Organ removal
Victims are moved from one place to another by their exploiter to have a body part removed. Buying or selling human organs for transplant is illegal. It is also illegal if the exploiter usually lives in the UK but arranges for the organ removal to take place abroad.
The most common organs involved are the liver and kidney.
Child trafficking
Young people are tricked into travelling to the UK by thinking they'll go to school or get jobs here.
When they arrive, they find out they've been lied to and are made to work in restaurants, help with chores or steal. They're often not allowed to go to school. Sometimes they're forced to work in the sex industry.
Even if a trafficked child is not forced or threatened into committing crime, they're still being exploited because of their age.