In 2007, Polaris helped bring a bold survivor idea to life: a national human trafficking hotline. With the support of HHS’s Office on Trafficking In Persons, we built it from the ground up and operated it for nearly two decades, connecting hundreds of thousands of people to safety, support, and justice.
But from the very beginning, survivors asked us to do more than answer the phone. They asked us to build what was missing. To listen when they told us the systems around them failed. To follow their lead.
Polaris’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was born from the same survivor-driven commitment as the hotline. This is a story of how survivors shaped a groundbreaking approach to justice — one that listens, protects, and disrupts trafficking at its source.
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In 2020, something extraordinary happened.
A group of trafficking survivors sat down with Polaris and did something few others ever had: they opened their financial records. Not just a few months of activity — years. Bank statements. Payment app histories. All of it.
But more importantly, they gave Polaris something even rarer: context.
They explained the breadcrumbs — coded transactions, unusual activity, and financial patterns that pointed to coercion and control. They taught us how to read between the lines. And that’s how Polaris’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was born.
As one FIU staff member put it: “Traffickers are motivated by profit. So let’s go after it.”
Take a look at the surprising insights revealed by analyzing survivors’ financial records in this report from Polaris and The Avery Center. Survivors shared powerful examples of financial control, intentional evasion of red flag indicators, and patterns of economic distress and exploitation.
A New Way to Fight Human Trafficking
The FIU operates at the intersection of financial crimes and human trafficking — an unusual, but powerful combination. That’s because traffickers don’t always leave obvious evidence, but they do leave financial footprints. The FIU brings together banks, fintech companies, payment processors, and law enforcement, delivering them timely, actionable intelligence about suspected trafficking.
It’s not just about catching criminals. It’s about minimizing harm. Historically, trafficking prosecutions have relied heavily on survivor testimony, often requiring survivors to relive their trauma in court. The FIU offers a different approach.
By tracking financial behavior, traffickers can be charged with crimes like wire fraud, money laundering, or tax evasion. These charges often don’t require victim testimony. They don’t retraumatize. And they still deliver accountability.
This isn’t just theory. It’s already making a difference.
One FIU analyst recalled seeing a trafficker arrested in the news soon after she sent out an intelligence package. “We’ll never know for sure,” she said, “but the timing lined up. Even if we weren’t the only ones who spotted it, we were part of it. Connecting the dots matters and directly fights back against traffickers.”
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Building from Survivor Wisdom
This program didn’t emerge from a whiteboard brainstorm or policy memo. This approach came directly from survivors who told Polaris what they needed and trusted us to act.
“[Survivors] told us how painful it was to testify,” one FIU leader said. “They asked us to find another way to seek justice. So we did. The FIU is our answer to that call.”
It’s also an answer to something else survivors told us: they need money to rebuild their lives. In Polaris’s National Survivor Study, survivors identified financial stability as one of their top unmet needs. Under U.S. federal law, trafficking survivors are entitled to financial restitution. But restitution is ordered in fewer than one in four cases — and even then, rarely paid. (See Section 7.6 for more information about victim restitution.)
Too often, the money is gone by the time courts arrive at sentencing.
That’s where financial intelligence can change everything. By identifying assets early and tracking money throughout the legal process, partners can help ensure restitution doesn’t fall through the cracks.
“If we can follow the money,” said one staff member, “we can seize it and start to make survivors whole. It’s not just about punishment for traffickers. It’s about meaningful repair.”
Restitution, Restorative Justice, and a Life Survivors Deserve
The FIU was built to do more than expose wrongdoing. It was built to help make survivors whole.
As one Polaris leader put it:
“Everybody deserves the opportunity to build the life of their dreams—especially individuals who have already had a life of nightmares. The work we do tracking down money is a small contribution that hopefully will allow survivors to build the life of their dreams.”
That’s the kind of justice Polaris is fighting for — one grounded not only in accountability, but in healing, dignity, and the freedom to start again.
Survivors asked us to find a better way. Help us keep building it.
Polaris’s Financial Intelligence Unit exists because survivors trusted us with their stories — and their solutions. Your support helps us turn that wisdom into action.
– Make a gift today to invest in survivor-led innovation and lasting justice.
– Learn more about Polaris’s anti-trafficking programs grounded in the lived experience of victims and survivors.
– Read more about the FIU and its partner institutions applying a financial crimes approach to fighting human trafficking.
Stop human trafficking today
Help fix the broken systems that make trafficking possible so we can prevent it from happening in the first place.
