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 Violen
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