Eleven victims were locked in a house and forced to make fraudulent phone calls in a criminal scam operation. These victims were subject to physical and verbal abuse as well as sexual exploitation.
One of the victims had been lured by traffickers under the false pretense of attending a training course to start a new job. She left her village with hopes of a good job, but once she was isolated from her community and in the traffickers’ control, they drugged and raped her.
The traffickers attempted to exploit the victim’s mother by demanding ransom money. This mother did not have money, but fearing for her daughter’s life, she approached her neighbor for a loan.
Providentially, this mother happened to ask the right neighbor for help.
It turned out that the neighbor’s relative worked with a JVI Justice Hub in the area. Upon learning of the daughter’s situation, the neighbor’s relative informed the anti-trafficking unit, who initiated a rescue with local authorities this past month.
Eight females and three males were freed from captivity at the scam location, with three of them being minors. Authorities also arrested two traffickers during the rescue operation. The survivors are recovering and preparing to testify against their traffickers.
The news spread. Within a few days, the anti-trafficking unit reported freeing over 700 individuals trapped in nearby houses in similar scam operations.
This past week, the U.S. State Department released the 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report, which reports that since the COVID-19 pandemic, traffickers have pivoted to take advantage of the increased number of global youth who are unemployed. Specifically, in the past two years forced criminality in cyber scam operations has grown into a multi-billion dollar industry.
