Human Trafficking and Identity Theft .......... with Shaunes Richardson

Suppose a man and a woman walk into a bank together and ask to take out a loan in the woman’s name. When asked for her ID, the man produces it, and she signs the documents.

It might seem like no big deal, but it could be the sign of something more sinister. Some human trafficking victims are coerced into taking out loans for their traffickers. Some even have their identity stolen by traffickers. Both land victims in major debt. “Victims may be forced to turn over any of their social assistance cheques. Student loans have been used before by traffickers. Something that the police are seeing is that traffickers prefer to put any of these products into the victim’s name, because it allows him—or her—to stay one step removed from the trafficking activity,” she said.

Project Recover sets out to help survivors of trafficking rebuild their personal finances, as well as find solutions to shut down or freeze credit products that have been used by traffickers. For one, Franssen- Tingley says that social workers helping trafficking survivors tend to only look at health and safety, thus overlooking the possibility of coercive debt.