Abuja (Nigeria), 14 May 2026: Across West Africa, increasing numbers of trafficking cases now involve online recruitment. Criminal networks are exploiting digital platforms and online tools to target young people seeking economic opportunities or migration pathways abroad. Victims are often manipulated into paying money for fake visas, travel arrangements, education opportunities or job prospects. In some cases, they exploit legitimate brands, including direct-selling platforms, to create false credibility and deceive victims. These promises result in financial exploitation, coercion, abandonment during irregular migration journeys, and other forms of abuse.
This pattern reflects a broader shift in how traffickers and smugglers identify and recruit victims. Recent field research and nationwide consultations conducted across 21 states in Nigeria further highlight the growing role of online recruitment in trafficking patterns across the country. Survivors and community members consistently report that traffickers take advantage of economic hardship and strong aspirations to migrate. “Traffickers show photos of rich life abroad, cars, clubs and hotels on online platforms. Young people think that is where they are going. They do not know what happens behind the scenes,” a youth advocate interviewed during the nationwide consultations explained.
Addressing this evolving cyber-enabled trafficking threat requires moving beyond awareness-raising to also target the organized criminal networks directly behind these deceptive recruitment and exploitation. This is why the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) supported the establishment of a joint Operational Task Force (OTF) bringing together the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS). The initiative aims to strengthen Nigeria’s law enforcement and prosecution response to cyber-enabled trafficking in persons, as well as the misuse of direct-selling platforms by organized criminal networks.
Launched in Abuja on 30 April 2026, the Operational Task Force will serve as a coordinated inter-agency mechanism disrupting criminal actors who falsely present themselves as agents or brokers linked to legitimate entities, including in cases involving the use of online direct-selling platforms, to deceive, recruit, and exploit victims. The initiative follows a series of mentoring sessions delivered under the project “Promoting Action and Cooperation among Countries at Global Level against Trafficking in Human Beings and the Smuggling of Migrants” (PACTS) funded by the European Union, which supports strengthened global responses to trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.
Through the OTF, NAPTIP and NIS will strengthen operational coordination to identify organized criminal groups and disrupt the networks that facilitate exploitation on digital platforms. They will also support targeted intelligence gathering, identify high-value targets linked to organized criminal activity, joint law enforcement action, and parallel financial investigations aimed at tracing and recovering proceeds of crime.
As criminal networks continue to adapt to new technologies and deceptive business models, coordinated institutional responses are critical to protecting vulnerable populations, preventing trafficking in persons, and disrupting the financial and operational structures that sustain migrant smuggling within Nigeria and across borders.
UNODC remains committed to supporting the Nigerian authorities in strengthening inter-agency cooperation, enhancing operational responses, and promoting evidence-based approaches to counter cyber-enabled trafficking in persons and the smuggling of migrants.
