• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Blogs » Think Tank » Using AI to Uncover Wildlife and Human Trafficking in the Supply Chain

Think Tank
Think Tank RSS FeedRSS

Using AI to Uncover Wildlife and Human Trafficking in the Supply Chain

August 27, 2021
Clark Frogley, SCB Contributor

Money flows into and out of financial institutions daily, and it’s no secret that some of those funds stem from illicit transactions in the supply chain. It’s an unfortunate and often-ignored reality that human and wildlife trafficking are common across the globe, and extend to different parts of how the global supply chain operates.

According to the International Labour Organization, forced labor in the private economy generates an estimated $150 billion in illegal profits per year. It’s crucial for enterprises to closely examine their partnerships to ensure they’re not unknowingly working with traffickers, and new advancements in artificial intelligence are helping them do just that.

Many industries such as restaurants, hotels, construction and farming rely on a never-ending supply of cheap labor as a means to keep costs low. In 2017, ILO found that the largest share of labor-trafficked adults are domestic workers (24%) followed by construction (18%), manufacturing (15%), and agriculture and fishing (11%) sectors. Criminal organizations have made the most of this system, through the anonymity of shell companies, infiltrating industries and using human or wildlife trafficking as a way to become as profitable as possible. Traffickers have leapt at the increasingly global transport network and supply chain as a means to increase their business and fly under the radar, leaving countless individuals trapped as victims of these crimes.

While these criminals often succeed in remaining anonymous, companies can take steps to ensure they’re not inadvertently working with traffickers. Criminal organizations leave financial footprints and data trails behind them, and despite the fact that they use tactics to go undetected, improvements in technology, tracking and AI make it easier for ethical companies to root out criminals, investigate and disrupt their operations.

Identifying Trafficking Networks

Traffickers make themselves difficult to detect, as the shell companies they create to hide their criminal behavior usually look legitimate on paper. So how can organizations identify companies that are engaged in trafficking? Red flags that may indicate a company is not what it seems include:

  • Companies that recruit high numbers of migrant workers.
  • Projects that outsource labor supply to agencies rather than directly employing workers. This practice allows for minimal oversight into contracts, how workers are treated and how they have been found for this work.
  • Organizations that house multiple workers in one location.
  • Companies that transport workers to and from a job site each day.
  • Companies that make multiple payments to housing or leasing companies from unrelated businesses.

NGOs, charities and local groups have been on the front lines trying to identify and prosecute traffickers through the use of on-the-ground human intelligence. This intelligence often relies on hearsay and personal testimonies, which are invaluable. However, these efforts are often limited by country borders and lack the international view needed to spot many key indicators of trafficking.

By using AI, it’s possible to identify trafficking indicators and patterns, and share the collected results and data with regulatory bodies or law enforcement to help stop trafficking directly.

Deploying Tech Solutions

Financial institutions are in a unique position to uncover and report traffickers by using the large amounts of data they already have to identify patterns and intelligence gaps. Organizations can employ technologies powered by AI, such as entity resolution and graph analytics, to make sense of that data and accurately hone in on suspicious accounts, investigating whether they may be involved in trafficking and other crimes.

Entity resolution uses advanced AI and machine learning to connect billions of data sources to scale and create a single customer (or customer’s customer) view, even if the source data is disparate and of poor quality. By deploying this technology, financial institutions can help uncover slight name changes, dates of birth, multiple addresses, account inconsistencies and other red flags (small or large) that may indicate crime along the supply chain. Once a single view of the data is obtained, network generation allows the financial institution to create "context" that can help it better understand the traffickers’ movements, including monitoring shipping and trade routes and tracking money movements through shell companies.

This technology can not only be used on the front end to detect and avoid supply chain risks, but also to support and boost internal investigations as well as those conducted by law enforcement. Many traffickers have yet to be identified by local law enforcement agencies, but companies that use entity resolution and graph analytics can bring attention to traffickers and other criminals that might otherwise go undetected.

Trafficking is a crime that occurs frequently along the supply chain, but it shouldn’t be ignored or accepted as a part of doing business in the global economy. It’s not just the responsibility of NGOs, charities and law enforcement agencies to find and investigate criminal organizations. It’s up to everyone along the supply chain to monitor their data and do their part to make it as difficult as possible for criminal groups to take part in trafficking.

With the right technology in place, companies can do their due diligence and meet their moral obligations to identify and prosecute trafficking wherever it occurs.

Clark Frogley is Americas head of financial crime solutions at Quantexa.

Sourcing/Procurement/SRM HR & Labor Management Regulation & Compliance Supply Chain Security & Risk Mgmt

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • A HAND HOLDS A CELL PHONE IN FRONT OF A LAPTOP. A FLOATING QR CODE CAN BE SEEN BETWEEN THE PHONE AND LAPTOP.

    The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing QR Code

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • A  PERSON'S HANDS CAN BE SEEN WORKING AT A LAPTOP WITH PROJECTIONS OF CHARTS, GRAPHS AND METRICS HOVERING ABOVE THE HANDS.

    Amidst Another Disappointing Peak Season, Manufacturers Increasingly Look to Data

    Air Cargo
  • On-Demand-Webinar-Deloitte-Ep1of6-Sep-26.jpg

    Navigating to Net-Zero: Procurement's Role in Supplier Emissions

    Webinars
  • A WORKER IN COLD WEATHER GEAR WRITES ON A CLIPBOARD IN A WAREHOUSE

    Automating the Cold-Chain Warehouse

    Business Strategy Alignment
  • Multiple cars are being put together by robotic arms on an assembly line inside of a factory. Photo: iStock.com/Traimak_Ivan

    Podcast | Will an Investment ‘Supercycle’ Spark the Revival of American Manufacturing?

    Sourcing/Procurement/SRM

Digital Edition

Scb august 2023 lg

2023 100 Great Supply Chain Partners

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • JLL Finds Perfect Warehouse Location, Leading to $15M Grant for Startup

  • Robots Speed Fulfillment to Help Apparel Company Scale for Growth

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

Visit Our Sponsors

Antuit Zebra Anvyl AutoStore
BEUMER Group Blue Ridge Global Brother
CHEP Cleo Coenterprise
Data Capture E2open Enveyo
Eva Air ForwardX Robotics Frayt
GAINSystems Generix Geodis
GEP Global Supply Chain Marketing Summit GreyOrange
Here Holman Logistics Infor
Inmar Kinaxis Lexis Nexis
Locus Robotics Logility LogistiVIEW
Lucas Systems MCA Connect MPO
Old Dominion OneRail Overhaul
PartnerLinQ (Visionet) Port of Virginia Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash
Saddle Creek Logistics SAP Shyft
Sourcemap SPS Commerce Tecsys
TGW Systems Thomson Reuters Veho
Verusen Walmart Workshop
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing