NAIROBI, July 29– The International Organization for Migration (IOM) warned on Tuesday that hundreds of thousands of people across Africa have been trafficked by criminal networks and forced into online fraud operations that generate billions of dollars in illicit profits annually.
IOM said human trafficking networks are increasingly targeting job seekers across East, Horn and Southern Africa, forcing victims into illegal activities amid reports that nationals from Kenya, Ethiopia and neighboring countries have been trafficked into scam compounds operating in Asia.
“The identification of East Africans among victims rescued from scam compounds demonstrates that trafficking for forced criminality is no longer a distant threat. Criminal networks are actively targeting job seekers across our region with false promises of employment abroad,” Frantz Celestin, IOM regional director for East, Horn and Southern Africa, said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
Ahead of the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons to be observed on July 30 under the theme “Trapped Behind the Scam,” IOM said the growing threat highlights how organized criminal networks are exploiting the aspirations of people seeking employment opportunities abroad.
Between 2022 and 2025, IOM assisted more than 3,500 victims of trafficking for forced criminality across Southeast Asia, from 39 countries, with the largest numbers originating from Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Kenya and Bangladesh, it said. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
