By Ann Christina Peterpaul, Contributing Writer

According to the International Labour Organization, approximately 40.3 million people are victims of human trafficking at any given moment, and one fourth of the victims are children. This appalling number is highlighted by the fact that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) affirms that the dark web is growing and traffickers are becoming more expert in their internet methods.

In the United States, about 40% of trafficking victims are recruited online. Traffickers use live chat scams, location trafficking applications and other sophisticated web means to entrap their victims. Victims are threatened with release of intimate photos to friends and family if they do not comply with trafficker demands.

Modern technology is fighting back. Marinus Analytics is developing technology that will disrupt internet human trafficking by using artificial intelligence (AI). In 2019 Marinus Analytics identified 3,800 victims using their software Traffic Jam. 

Another group, Anti Human Trafficking Intelligence Initiative (ATII) is working with law enforcement and private sector companies to use software to fight human trafficking. Their AI follows suspicious money trails like late night ATM use, expensive makeover purchases and cash deposits in short amounts of time in several locations, in order to pass on this information to police.

Marinus Analytics has said that they’re developing more technology focusing on child protection. CEO Cara Jones said, “Trafficking is not an amateur problem.” In reference to public safety spaces she said, “These are very sophisticated establishments that have a value chain to conduct their business in these spaces, and the more we can start to reveal the business practices to the right law enforcement audience, the better.”

References and further reading:

• International Labour Organization: Forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking

• Can Technology Stop Human Trafficking?

• UNODC report: darknet cybercrime is on the rise in Southeast Asia