How Can I Help?

“What can I do to help?” you may be asking.

You’ve learned about the urgent need women and children have for protection in Romania—that 78% of the trafficking victims across Europe are Romanian.

You’ve heard about the horrific schemes traffickers use to ensnare people and the trauma that these precious souls endure at the hands of evil people.

Like you, we knew we had to do something. We created The Sanctuary as a place of transformation for survivors of trafficking. We started building The Freedom Highway and are seeing it grow across Europe. And we are doing all we can, as fast as we can, to teach people how to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. For this, we need your help!

You Can Blanket Europe with The Message of Prevention!

You’ve helped us begin to install TV monitors in key locations across Romania. These monitors teach people how to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. Potential victims are also given opportunities to reach our team for life-saving help and information. 

We started with the Bucharest airport and the main train station. With these 10 monitors, we have access to 48,000 travelers a day.

We no sooner had the monitors installed, when we were contacted by the tram company which has 650 trams running in Bucharest. “Why don’t we have these monitors, too?” they asked us. With these trams, we will reach 200,000 people per day. We are forming a partnership with them immediately. 

Next, our team met with the Timisoara airport located in the 3rd largest city in Romanian. Currently, the airport serves 5000-7000 passengers a day. Our team is planning the installation of motors at this location now.

Even more good news—Timisoara will open a new terminal in March. This terminal will serve the Schengen Region. 

Access to this terminal is very strategic in our fight against trafficking.  Traffickers funnel their “merchandise” into the Schengen Region which is made up of the top 27 most successful countries in Europe. 

We now have the opportunity to reach an additional 8000-10,000 people per day through the monitors at this new terminal.

Recently, we have also been contacted by the subway company (180,000 people/day), port authorities (one port reaches 40,000 people per day), and border patrol. All of these entities want to utilize our television monitor strategy! Doors are opening fast! And this is how you blanket a nation with knowledge and strategies for trafficking prevention! 

With your help, we can reach millions this year with the message of prevention!

Because of your investment in Uncaged, lives are being saved! Thank you for doing your part in the fight against human trafficking.

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Exposing the Loverboy Method

In this fight against human trafficking, we have to combat this evil from all sides. 

We know that we have to be on the lookout for trafficking situations all the time. Awareness is so important. We saw this power first-hand after reporting a trafficking situation in Eastern Europe. Our report put authorities on the trail of a major trafficking ring. Within a few months, 24 traffickers were arrested. 

We saw it when we trained a local business person how to recognize the signs of trafficking and he used that knowledge to help a woman who showed up at his door, running from her trafficker! We’ve trained Border Patrol and Law Enforcement who have told us that they now know trafficking has been happening right before their eyes. But now that they know, they are committed to changing that!

We Must Work Together

We have seen over and over that prevention starts with training. We are working to empower Romanians of all levels of society—from first responders to the general public traveling every day through train stations and airports—how to expose trafficking and stop it! We call this The Freedom Highway, a network of individuals and organizations across Europe working together to combat trafficking, rescue survivors, and journey with them to safety.

We Must Recognize the Methods of Traffickers — This is the Top Method!

We have to know how trafficking operates to recognize a dangerous situation. Today, I want to tell you about the single most common method for enslaving Romanian women. It’s called the “Loverboy Method.”  

This scheme starts when a trafficker targets a young woman. He showers her with attention and affection. He asks her out. He spares no expense to treat her like a queen for a while. It’s all part of a plot to win her trust.  

Once the trafficker and the victim are romantically involved, he will invite her on a getaway trip. Sometimes he will ask her to move away with him for “a better life.” Since the woman is usually in love at this point, she often goes with him happily.  When they’re out of the country, the trafficker strikes. 

We Create a Safe Place for Survivors of Trafficking

Often, he will confiscate her passport and documents before taking her phone. He then passes this precious woman off to another trafficker. At this point, the woman has been enslaved until partners like ours across Europe can rescue her and bring her to a place like the first Sanctuary.  

It’s terrifying to think of the scale of this deception. Every year, 250,000 people are trafficked into Europe alone. At least 78% of the survivors we encounter in Europe are from Romania. When we hear their stories, we hear about traffickers using the Loverboy Method over and over again.

We Expose The Darkness and Bring It Into the Light

We are fighting this evil. Together, we’re developing international strategies to stamp out the Loverboy Method. We identify tools for individuals and organizations to identify trafficking methods like these and stamp them out! 

Let’s keep fighting to end trafficking and unlock transformation for survivors. We hold the keys to freedom!

How can you identify a trafficking victim?

Prevention Saves Lives

Every January organizations around the world stop to focus on human trafficking awareness. It’s a time to get the word out to the general public about the evils of trafficking and inspire them to join the fight for the prevention and rescue of traffic victims. 

Here at Uncaged, this is a reality we focus on every single day. When we set out to make an impact for survivors in Romania and beyond, we knew that meant rescue, world-class aftercare, and trauma-informed therapy. Very quickly we learned that the only thing that is better than walking with a survivor on the road to transformation is preventing trafficking before it begins. Prevention saves lives!

Most Traffic Victims Are Not Identified or Freed

Once people have been caught in the cycle of trafficking, identifying and rescuing them is difficult. The statistics show the scale of the problem. We know that probably it is likely that less than 20% of victims are ever identified. Only 1% of survivors will ever be freed. 

The numbers are more staggering than we can even imagine. So much happens in the darkness that never comes to light. During Covid, far fewer victims were identified and fewer traffickers were prosecuted. It was easier for traffickers to move about and to hide.

We know that can change! It requires training first responders who have a higher likelihood of coming across traffickers and their victims. Click to read more about who those people are and how we are educating them! It means blanketing whole communities and nations with knowledge about how to protect themselves. 

The U.S. Department of State releases a Trafficking in Persons report every June, looking at trends across the world. The 2023 report showed that progress was made in 2022 with the highest number of victims identified since 2019 (115,324) and more prosecutions than any time in the past 6 years (15,159).

More Awareness Means More Trafficking Stopped

So, it is essential that people know the signs. How would you spot someone who is being trafficked? Would you know what to look for? That is why our ambitious and exciting project partnering with the Romanian Ministry of Transportation is so essential! The more people we can educate across the general public, the more awareness grows. The more awareness grows, the more traffickers can be stopped!

Our own team was recently trained by a new volunteer who joined The Freedom Highway so they can staff the emergency hotline utilized advertised on the monitors we’ve installed in Romanian airports and train stations.He educated our team members on how to respond when people call in. They might have seen something suspicious in the airport. It could be a victim who needs help. They know what to see and how to get them connected to the help they need. 

Do YOU know what to look for?

We can stay watchful in our own communities. Not only will this help protect our own sons and daughters, but you could spot others who are being trafficked. You could step in and help! These are some of the signs we teach people to look for, whether they encounter someone in the airport or in their classroom or emergency room. 

Will you become part of The Freedom Highway and educate yourself, too? Here are some red flags to look for that could indicate someone is in a trafficking situation: He or she:  

• lives with multiple people in a cramped space. 

• experiences poor living conditions. 

• is prohibited from speaking alone to strangers. 

• gives answers that appear to be scripted and rehearsed. 

• has an employer holding their identity documents. 

• shows signs of physical abuse. 

• is submissive or fearful. 

• appears malnourished or has poor dental health

• avoids eye contact, social interaction, and authority figures/law enforcement

• Has tattoos/ branding on the neck and/or lower back

• Is traveling with older males, and referring to those males as boyfriend or “daddy,” which is often street slang for pimp

Help us reach more with the message of prevention? Give today.