Isolating members and penalizing them for leaving.

Seeking inappropriate loyalty to their leaders.

Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.

No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.

No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget, expenses such as an independently audited financial statement.

Unreasonable fear about the outside world.

There is no legitimate reason to leave, former followers are always wrong in leaving, negative or even evil.

Followers feel they can never be "good enough".

Losing a sense of individuality, character, and human value.

The group/leader is always right.

The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is really acceptable or credible.

All of these have gotten progressively worse since World War 2. You're just "living" in a period of time that is heavily controlled.