When we look at the steps of human trafficking in general, action, means of action and purpose of action are seen as three basic elements.

In the action phase of human trafficking activities, victim finding/recruiting, transfer or transportation of the victim (transport/transfer), harboring and delivery (receipt of persons) steps.

The victim finding phase is deeply linked to the country of origin, the country of origin of potential victims. Criminal organizations prefer countries that will be a source of human trafficking. This preference is shaped according to some situations that the victims are exposed to. For example, in countries where gender roles emphasize the subordinate role in society to the detriment of women, women are more likely to be fit for trafficking activities due to the low employment opportunities for women. It is much easier to find victims during periods of economic crises, natural disasters, wars and internal conflicts. In this sense, different researchers give different classifications based on the methods used by human traffickers to find the victim. One of these classifications is the victimization of forced engagement, totally deceptive recruitment, and partial deceptive recruitment.

In forced engagement the victim is directly abducted, while the victim and the human trafficker have no previous ties. Forced engagement or abduction is the establishment of de facto power over the victim following the abduction, placing the victim in a position to be treated as an object that the perpetrator can displace, close, use, or have a master role over.

If partial engagement the victim will be provided with employment, but no information is given about what this will be and under what conditions. In some cases, traffickers also appear to reach out over the first victim to the victim’s environment. For a job that is said to exist abroad, the victim may be asked to invite his friends without knowing it yet. Likewise, the first victim may be asked to be sent to the country of origin under the threat and observation of human traffickers, and to make them victims by contacting other acquaintances or new people. The first victim may engage in this action to gain their freedom or become a link in a voluntary trafficking organisation. The term “happy human trafficking” is used for such activities in the United Nations literature. In this context, the first victim returns to the country of origin under threat or blackmail and creates a “happy illusion” against new victim candidates, telling that he has a legal job abroad and how good this job/life/earning is. Because of this illusion, the method is referred to as “happy human trafficking”. While this method reduces the risk to the main organizers and increases profits, it turns the first victim into a proxy recruiter and then into a human trafficker.

In totally deceptive engagement, the victim is promised direct employment or financial gain, and sometimes by making a down payment, and hiding real intentions comes to the fore. In this method, the “beloved” method is often used. When the victim enters into a love affair with someone in the target country, the promise of marriage or the real marriage is ensured. It is known that by these means, the victim is brought to the target country and after that, the victim is included in the human trafficking process mostly for sexual exploitation. There are also trap techniques based on social factors that are intended to deceive the victims, using the glitter of the purely deceptive method of engagement, activities such as music, fashion, entertainment or publicity. The victim is first deceived and then exposed to abuse by using front jobs such as modeling, travel or employment agencies, bartender/waitress/management in nightclubs, education consultancy, for which upfront or small payments can be made.

Means of action at the point of threat or use of force, debt, coercion, kidnapping, fraud, deception, abuse of vulnerability, vulnerability, or in the role of controller of the victim It is seen that the payment or benefit is provided to a person. In many cases, it is seen that the victim is placed in poor living conditions. Housing in unhealthy environments, malnutrition, low or zero wages, very long working hours, heavy, dangerous and unhealthy work can be given as examples of these conditions. This situation is used to provide a certain control over the victim as well as the nature of abuse.

The purpose of the action is to obtain illegal income and commodities through transnational abuse and exploitation.