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INTERPOL Releases New Information on Globalized Fraud Hubs, Involving Over 60 Countries

Victims are trafficked to engage in criminal activities around the world, involving over 60 countries. West Africa is emerging as a potential regional hub for online fraud.

Lyon, France: According to an INTERPOL crime trend update, human trafficking fraud hubs have expanded their footprint globally.

As of March 2025, victims from 66 countries were trafficked to online fraud hubs, leaving no continent untouched.

Based on data from INTERPOL notices published over the past five years, an analysis of crime trends revealed that 74% of human trafficking victims were brought to hubs in the original "hub" region of Southeast Asia.

However, online fraud hubs are increasingly being identified in other regions, including the Middle East, West Africa (which may be emerging as a new regional hub), and Central America.

While approximately 90% of human trafficking facilitators originate from Asia, 11% are from South America or Africa. 80% of the hosts are male, and 61% are between the ages of 20 and 39.

Initially concentrated in a few Southeast Asian countries, these centers are estimated to have attracted hundreds of thousands of human trafficking victims, often through fake job ads, detaining them in compounds and forcing them to commit online social engineering scams.

While not everyone scammed in these centers is a victim of human trafficking, those who are forcibly held are often subjected to debt bondage, as well as beatings, sexual exploitation, torture, and rape.

The online scams orchestrated by these centers target a second group of victims worldwide, who often suffer severe financial and emotional losses.

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

In 2024, a global operation coordinated by Interpol uncovered dozens of cases where human trafficking victims were deceived and coerced into committing scams, and national police raided an industrial-scale scam center in the Philippines.

That same year, an Interpol operation dismantled a scam center in Namibia that coerced 88 young people into committing fraud.

Interpol's latest report also emphasizes that as crime trends continue to evolve, emerging technologies and their integration with other major criminal sectors may transform the scam centers fueled by human trafficking.

The use of artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in scams.

AI has been used to create convincing fake job ads to attract human trafficking victims, as well as to generate online photos or profiles using "deepfake" technology for social engineering schemes such as sextortion and romance scams.

Addressing this rapidly globalizing threat requires a coordinated international effort. We must strengthen information exchange with law enforcement agencies in the growing number of affected countries, and enhance collaboration with non-governmental organizations assisting victims and the technology companies whose platforms are exploited.