Interpol warns: West Africa emerging as a hub for human trafficking scams

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) has released new findings stating West Africa is emerging as a potential regional hub for human trafficking-fueled scam centres. 

According to Interpol’s new crime trend update, scam centres have expanded their global footprint. 

It said as of March 2025, victims from 66 countries were trafficked into online scam centres, with no continent left untouched. 

According to an analysis of the crime trend using data from relevant Interpol notices issued over the past five years, 74% of human trafficking victims were brought to centres in the original hub region of Southeast Asia. 

However, online scam centres have increasingly been observed in other regions, including the Middle East, West Africa, which could be developing into a new regional hub, and Central America.

The data revealed that while 90% of human trafficking facilitators were from Asia, 11% were from South America or Africa. 

It was also revealed that 81% of facilitators were men and 61% were aged between 20 and 39 years old. 

The Interpol data said it was initially concentrated in a handful of Southeast Asian countries, the centres are estimated to have drawn in hundreds of thousands of human trafficking victims, typically through false job ads, detaining them in compounds and forcing them to carry out online social engineering scams.

“While not every person committing fraud in a scam centre is a victim of human trafficking, those held against their will are often subject to extortion through debt bondage, as well as beatings, sexual exploitation, torture and rape. Online scams engineered by the centres target a second set of globally-dispersed victims, who often suffer debilitating financial and emotional damage,” the findings found. 

Since 2023, Interpol has documented how this double-edged crime trend has evolved from a regional threat in Southeast Asia to a global crisis, issuing an Orange Notice to signal its serious and imminent threat to public safety.

In 2024, a global operation coordinated by Interpol uncovered dozens of cases in which trafficking victims were deceived and coerced into committing fraud, with national police officers raiding an industrial-scale scam centre in the Philippines.

In the same year, an Interpol operation saw police dismantle a scam centre in Namibia, where 88 youths were forced to conduct scams.

The Interpol update also highlights how emerging technologies and convergence with other major crime areas could transform human trafficking-fueled scam centres as the crime trend continues to evolve.

“The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been observed in a growing number of scamming cases. AI has been used to develop convincing fake job ads that attract human trafficking victims as well as generate online photos or profiles through ‘deepfake’ technology for sextortion and romance scams, among other social engineering schemes,” the data found. 

It was further revealed that the same routes used to traffic victims to scam centres can be used to traffic drugs, firearms, and protected wildlife species. 

Scam centres emerged in Southeast Asia, which are also key hubs for the trafficking of endangered species, making criminal diversification likely. 

Acting Executive Director of Police Services at Interpol, Cyril Gout, said the reach of online scam centres spans the globe and represents a dynamic and persistent global challenge. “Tackling this rapidly globalising threat requires a coordinated international response. We must increase the exchange of information between law enforcement in the growing number of countries affected and strengthen partnerships with NGOs that help victims and technology companies whose platforms are being exploited,” Gout said. 

robin.francke@iol.co.za

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