37
2024 ◆ National Money Laundering Risk Assessment
concerns, or involvement with the child welfare system or youth homelessness.
180
Sex traicking is oen
facilitated through online social media platforms.
181
Beyond its enormous human costs, human traicking is one of the most profitable crimes and predicate
oenses for money laundering.
182
While an underreported crime, between January 1, 2020 and August
31, 2022, a total of 26,872 situations of human traicking were reported to the U.S. National Human
Traicking Hotline involving 42,887 likely victims.
183
An estimated 30 million people are subjected to
human traicking across the world.
184
Estimates suggest that human traicking generates more than
$150 billion in global illicit profits annually.
185
Financial activity from human traicking can intersect with the regulated financial system at any
point during the recruitment, transportation, and exploitation stages. Transactions related to human
traicking can include payments associated with the transport and housing of victims; the collection of
proceeds generated by the exploitation of traicking victims; and the movement of proceeds.
186
TCOs
may make financial investments to facilitate human traicking-related activities, such as investing in real
estate, bars, restaurants, or other businesses to conceal their traicking-related activities.
187
Companies
that appear legitimate may be used to launder money to support human traicking.
Illicit proceeds from human traicking can be paid or transferred in cash, electronic funds transfers/
180
National Human Traicking Hotline, “Human Traicking: Who is Vulnerable?” https://humantraickinghotline.org/en/human-
traicking#:~:text=Who percent20is percent20Vulnerable percent3F,a percent20runaway percent20or percent20homeless percent20youth
.
181 DOJ, “Kansas Man Convicted for Sex Traicking in Oklahoma”, (August 3, 2023), https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndok/pr/kansas-
man-convicted-sex-traicking-oklahoma; DOJ, “Jamestown Woman Pleads Guilty To Her Role In Sex Traicking Conspiracy”,
(August 17, 2023) https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdny/pr/jamestown-woman-pleads-guilty-her-role-sex-traicking-conspiracy;
DOJ, “Marion County Man Convicted of Human Traicking,” (August 23, 2023), https://www.justice.gov/usao-edtx/pr/marion-
county-man-convicted-human-traicking.
182 State, Treasury, “Report to Congress on An Analysis of Anti-Money Laundering Eorts Related to Human traicking”, (October 7, 2020),
https://www.state.gov/report-to-congress-on-an-analysis-of-anti-money-laundering-eorts-related-to-human-traicking/.
183 Polaris, “The Typology of Modern Slavery”, (August 30, 2023), https://polarisproject.org/the-typology-of-modern-slavery/
184 DHS, “Countering Human Traicking: A Year in Review”, (January 2023), https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/
files/2023-05/23_0131_CCHT_year-in-review_revised-23_0509.pdf; Department of State, “About Human Traicking,” https://
www.state.gov/humantraicking-about-human-traicking/#:~:text=With%20an%20estimated%2027.6%20million,them%20
for%20their%20own%20profit.
185 The White House, “FACT SHEET: The National Action Plan to Combat Human Traicking (NAP)” (December 3, 2021), https://www.
whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/03/fact-sheet-the-national-action-plan-to-combat-human-traicking-
nap/#:~:text=December percent2003 percent2C percent202021-,FACT percent20SHEET percent3A percent20The percent20National
percent20Action,to percent20Combat percent20Human percent20Traicking percent20(NAP)&text=Globally percent2C percent20an
percent20estimated percent2025 percent20million,billion percent20annually percent20in percent20illicit percent20profits. The actual
value of proceeds from human traicking is likely to be much higher. In 2014, an International Labour Oice study found that forced
labor generates approximately $150 billion in proceeds annually. Since that time, the number of persons understood to be victims of
human traicking has increased by nearly 50 percent. International Labour Oice, 2014, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced
Labour, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_243391.pdf, page 13.
186 FinCEN, “Supplemental Advisory on Identifying and Reporting Human Traicking and Related Activity”, FIN2020-A008, (October
15, 2020,) https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/advisory/2020-10-15/Advisory percent20Human percent20Traicking
percent20508 percent20FINAL_0.pdf; FinCEN, “Advisory Guidance Recognizing Activity that May be Associated with Human
Smuggling and Human Traicking”, FIN2014-A008, (September 11, 2014), https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/advisory/
FIN-2014-A008.pdf; FinCEN, “FinCEN Alert on Huma Smuggling along the Southwest Border of the United States”, FIN2023-
Alert001, (January 13, 2023), https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/FinCEN percent20Alert percent20Human
percent20Smuggling percent20FINAL_508.pdf.
187 FinCEN, “Supplemental Advisory on Identifying and Reporting Human Traicking and Related Activity”, FIN2020-A008, (October
15, 2020,) https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/advisory/2020-10-15/Advisory percent20Human percent20Traicking
percent20508 percent20FINAL_0.pdf.