Guidance on Recognizing Activity that May be Associated with Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking Financial Red Flags

FIN-2014-A008 September 11, 2014

1. See, 8 U.S.C. § 1324.
2. See generally, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1581, 1584, 1589, 1590, 1591, 24121, 2422, 2423 and 2425, The Victims of Trafficking and
   Violence Protection Act of 2000 (Pub. L. No. 106-386), applicable State laws and the President’s Interagency Task Force – Progress in Combating Trafficking in Persons: The U.S. Government Response to Modern Slavery. Guidance on Recognizing Activity that May be Associated with Human Smuggling and Human Trafficking – Financial Red Flags FinCEN identifies “red flags” to assist financial institutions in identifying and reporting suspicious financial activity connected to human smuggling and human trafficking. To support law enforcement efforts to fight human smuggling and human trafficking, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) seeks to advise financial institutions on how to detect and report suspicious financial activity that may be related to human smuggling and/or human trafficking. Financial institutions, large and small, can play a critical role in identifying and reporting transactions related to these unlawful activities based on their observations when interacting with customers and their monitoring processes. FinCEN, in collaboration with law enforcement agencies, non-governmental organizations and members of the financial industry, has identified financial indicators, or “red flags,” that may indicate financial activity related to human smuggling or human trafficking. In addition to identifying red flags, this advisory provides common terms that financial institutions may use when reporting activity related to these crimes. The use of common terms will assist law enforcement in better identifying possible cases of human smuggling or human trafficking reported through Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). Human Smuggling Acts or attempts to bring unauthorized aliens to or into the United States, transport them within the U.S., harbor unlawful aliens, encourage entry of illegal aliens, or conspire to commit these violations, knowingly or in reckless disregard of illegal status.1 Human Trafficking The act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing or obtaining a person for forced labor or commercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud or coercion.2