Human trafficking for forced criminality is increasing worldwide, with authorities raising particular concern about trafficking victims into cyber-enabled fraud and online scam operations.
People are recruited through deceptive job adverts and false promises of legitimate work, then exploited in scam centres, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Union (EU) said on Thursday on the occasion of the World Day Against Trafficking in Person.
They added that criminal groups use digital tools and artificial intelligence to expand operations and evade detection.
Governments and law enforcement agencies must strengthen efforts to dismantle the networks behind these operations, UNODC’s Acting Chief of the Organised Crime Branch Ilias Chatzis said in the statement.
Victims should be identified and protected rather than punished for crimes they were forced to commit.
Scam centres sit at the intersection of human trafficking, cybercrime, fraud and financial crime, and are linked to organised crime, according to the EU Anti-trafficking Coordinator Diane Schmitt.
The EU promotes a multidisciplinary and international partnership to prevent and combat criminal activity linked to scam centres and to protect victims, she said.
Victims identified from nearly 80 nationalities
By late 2025, identified victims came from nearly 80 nationalities, according to the figures. Southeast Asia remains a major hub, while similar operations have spread to the Middle East, Africa, Eastern and South-eastern Europe, South Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.
More than 300,000 people in Southeast Asia are currently being forced to carry out cybercrime including online scams, often in harsh and abusive conditions, United Nations estimates cited in the update said.
Cyber scams generated between $18 billion and $37 billion in illicit profits in 2023 in Southeast Asia alone, UNODC estimates said.
The European Commission is expected to present an EU Action Plan to combat digital fraud and a new EU Strategy on combating Trafficking in Human Beings in the coming months.
