You might be worried about what will happen if you try to get help or escape. Someone might have threatened you or your family with visa cancellation, violence, or other abuse and harm.
Police and support services understand these fears and can help keep you safe.
It is important to know that:
- you do not have to give your name when you first ask for information.
- organisations you contact generally need your agreement (consent) before they take action, unless mandatory reporting applies.
Read more about support services that can help.
How to communicate safely
These tips can help you, or someone you are worried about, stay safe when looking for support.
Finding information online
- Use a private or incognito window.
- Delete your browsing history.
- Use the ‘quick exit’ button where available. This immediately closes the site you are on and opens a different website in a new window. However, it will not delete your browsing history. Make sure you do that when it is safe.
Talking on a phone or texting
- Write down the number of the support service or store it in a phone under a different name.
- Keep another copy of the number somewhere, written under that different name.
- Only call or text when you are alone or with someone you trust.
- If you do not have your own phone, call from a public Telstra payphone. Standard national calls and calls to standard Australian mobiles are free from Telstra payphones.
- Have a safe word you can use when talking on the phone or sending text messages to someone you trust. You can use this safe word to show that it is you and that it is safe for you to talk. (The safe word could be an answer to a question that someone asks every time you talk.)
- Think about deleting any text messages that you send or receive.
- Delete the call from the call log record on your mobile phone if you can.
- If calling from a landline, dial another number after you finish the call. This stops someone else using the redial function to find out who you called.
Using email
- Try to send emails from a public computer, like at a public library.
- Use a private email address that nobody else knows.
- You may need to delete any email messages that you send or receive.
Meeting with somebody face to face
- Meet in a safe and private place where you will not be recognised by anyone else.
- Turn off your mobile phone or put it in airplane mode so it’s harder to track your location.
Find out how to report suspected modern slavery, get help for yourself or support someone else.
