Human Traffickers Move Online, Recruit Youths into Global Scam Networks, NAPTIP, UNODC Warn

• As Nigerian Navy hands over rescued victims of human trafficking to agency

Michael Olugbode and Linus Aleke in Abuja

National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have raised fresh concerns over the rapid evolution of human trafficking into a technology-driven crime.
NAPTIP and UNODC warned that criminal syndicates were increasingly recruiting young Nigerians through fake online job offers and forcing them into cyber-enabled fraud operations across the world.
In a related development, the Nigerian Navy handed over rescued victims of suspected human trafficking to NAPTIP, reinforcing inter-agency efforts to combat human trafficking, protect vulnerable persons, and ensure survivors receive the care, protection, and support required for their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
The service also reaffirmed its commitment to tackling human trafficking and other transnational organised crimes.
NAPTIP and UNODC warned that rising youth unemployment, irregular migration, and the misuse of digital platforms were expanding the pool of vulnerable young people, urging governments to complement aggressive law enforcement with sustained investments in job creation, skills acquisition, and economic opportunities.
The warning came yesterday in Abuja, during a press conference ahead of the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, where stakeholders unveiled activities to mark the global observance on July 30 under the theme, “Trapped Behind the Scam.”
Addressing journalists, NAPTIP Director-General, Binta Adamu Bello, said human trafficking had undergone a dangerous transformation, moving beyond the familiar patterns of sexual exploitation, forced labour, and domestic servitude, into organised cybercrime powered by social media, encrypted messaging applications, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence.
Bello said criminal syndicates now lured educated and highly skilled young Nigerians with promises of lucrative jobs in information technology, digital marketing, customer service, telecommunications, and cryptocurrency trading, only for the victims to discover on arrival abroad that the advertised jobs did not exist.
According to Bello, the victims have their passports confiscated, their freedom restricted, and are forced through violence, intimidation, debt bondage, and psychological coercion to carry out sophisticated online scams targeting unsuspecting victims around the world.
“The victims themselves become prisoners trapped behind computer screens, trapped behind false promises, trapped behind organised criminal networks, and trapped behind fear,” she said.
She disclosed that large criminal operations, commonly referred to as “fraud factories” or “scam hubs,” had proliferated across Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, where trafficked persons were forced to execute romance scams, cryptocurrency fraud, and fake investment schemes under brutal conditions.
Victims who failed to meet financial targets, she said, were subjected to torture, rape, solitary confinement, and, in some cases, organ harvesting.
Bello revealed that more than 300,000 people were trafficked into scam compounds across Southeast Asia every year, generating an estimated $64 billion in illicit revenue for criminal syndicates.
She warned that similar criminal operations were beginning to emerge in Nigeria and other African countries, where traffickers exploit social media platforms and online recruitment portals to deceive young people desperate for employment.
The NAPTIP boss said the agency rescued and repatriated over 300 victims of the emerging form of trafficking from neighbouring countries, including Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, in 2025, while another 156 victims had been rescued since January this year through coordinated operations with international partners.
She added that NAPTIP’s Cyber Response Team had also dismantled several emerging scam centres across Nigeria where young people were allegedly being trained for cybercrime under names such as “Yahoo Plus,” “Yahoo Extra” and “Hustle Kingdom.”
According to her, suspects arrested at the facilities are facing prosecution for offences ranging from financially motivated extortion to sextortion and revenge pornography.
Bello said the consequences of cyber-enabled trafficking extended beyond individual victims, leaving families devastated, draining household savings through fraudulent recruitment schemes, and damaging Nigeria’s international image.
She stated that despite the increasingly sophisticated tactics employed by traffickers, NAPTIP had intensified public awareness campaigns, expanded digital safety education, strengthened intelligence gathering, and deepened collaboration with local and international partners under its five-pillar strategy of prevention, protection, policy, partnership, and prosecution.
She disclosed that the agency had established more than 180 Anti-trafficking and Violence Against Persons Vanguards in secondary schools across the country to educate young people on the dangers of trafficking and online exploitation.
The director-general revealed that NAPTIP had secured 839 convictions since its establishment, including 47 convictions recorded between January and July 2026, while a recent high-profile case in Ondo State led to the conviction of a trafficker and his wife, alongside the forfeiture of properties worth millions of naira.
She vowed that the agency would continue to deploy intelligence-led investigations and technology-driven tools to dismantle trafficking networks.
“The days when traffickers operated with impunity are rapidly coming to an end. Nigeria will become an increasingly hostile environment for every trafficking syndicate,” Bello declared.
UNODC Country Representative, Cheikh Toure, described this year’s campaign theme as a stark reminder that many individuals operating in online scam centres were themselves victims of trafficking, who were deceived by promises of legitimate employment before being forced into criminal activities.
Toure warned that organised criminal groups were increasingly exploiting digital technologies to target unemployed youths searching for better economic opportunities.
“What begins as the promise of legitimate employment can, in a matter of days, become a descent into forced labour, forced criminality, or other grave forms of trafficking and exploitation,” he said.
Toure stated that trafficking thrived where poverty, unemployment, and lack of opportunities persisted, insisting that arrests and prosecutions alone would not eliminate the crime.
He said, “If we are to be honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge that trafficking thrives where legitimate opportunity is scarce.
“Every job created, every skill acquired, and every young person empowered is one less person vulnerable to exploitation.”
He called on governments to prioritise youth empowerment, vocational training, entrepreneurship, and inclusive economic growth as critical components of anti-trafficking strategies.
The UNODC representative also urged authorities to recognise that many people compelled to commit online crimes through trafficking were victims who required protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration rather than immediate criminalisation.
He reaffirmed the UN agency’s commitment to supporting Nigeria in strengthening criminal justice responses, expanding educational opportunities, and addressing the socio-economic conditions that exposeg people to trafficking.
Toure called for stronger collaboration among governments, law enforcement agencies, civil society organisations, technology companies, development partners, and the media to expose recruitment scams, dismantle trafficking syndicates, and protect survivors.
NAPTIP and UNODC stressed that human trafficking had become one of the fastest-growing forms of transnational organised crime, with digital technology creating new opportunities for criminal networks to recruit, transport, and exploit victims across borders.
They urged young Nigerians to verify overseas job offers, avoid unofficial recruitment channels, and promptly report suspicious advertisements to relevant authorities, warning that behind many online employment offers and internet scam operations are criminal networks exploiting vulnerable people for profit.
Activities lined up to mark the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons include nationwide sensitisation campaigns, awareness walks, community outreach programmes, survivor engagement sessions, and a novelty football match aimed at mobilising public support against human trafficking.
The agencies maintained that defeating the evolving threat would require sustained international cooperation, stronger institutions, public vigilance, and expanded economic opportunities for young people, insisting that protecting vulnerable citizens must remain at the centre of Nigeria’s anti-trafficking response.
Meanwhile, according to a statement by Director of Naval Information, Nigerian Navy, Captain Abiodun Folorunsho, the handover of the rescued victims was carried out by Forward Operating Base (FOB), Badagry, at the agency’s Lagos Zonal Command in Ikeja, following the victims’ rescue during a targeted anti-human trafficking operation.
Folorunsho said, “In line with the Harmonised Standard Operating Procedures (HSOP) for the handling of victims of trafficking, the rescued individuals were first taken to the Western Naval Command Maritime Crime Investigation Desk, where they underwent comprehensive documentation, biometric capture, and other necessary administrative procedures before being formally transferred to NAPTIP for rehabilitation, protection, and further investigation.”
Folorunsho said the successful rescue and seamless handover underscored the Nigerian Navy’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding Nigeria’s maritime and territorial corridors from transnational organised crime while ensuring the protection and dignity of vulnerable persons.
“It also reflects the service’s continued collaboration with relevant government agencies in dismantling human trafficking networks and strengthening Nigeria’s national security architecture,” he said.
The statement added that the Nigerian Navy remained resolute in sustaining intelligence-driven operations and inter-agency cooperation aimed at preventing human trafficking, disrupting criminal syndicates, and promoting a safe and secure maritime environment in support of national security objectives.