NAPTIP Rescues 156 Trafficking Victims, Warns Against Rising Southeast Asia Job Scams

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has rescued 156 victims of human trafficking since January 2026 and repatriated over 300 others from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in 2025.

The Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, disclosed the figures during a press briefing held ahead of the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. She warned that human trafficking networks have increasingly shifted operations to the digital space, targeting educated and tech-savvy Nigerian graduates with fake job offers in Southeast Asia.

Bello explained that victims are lured with promises of lucrative roles in IT, digital marketing, cryptocurrency trading, and customer service. Upon arrival, their passports are seized, and they are forced into operating online romance and investment scams under severe physical and psychological coercion.

Globally, over 300,000 people are estimated to be trafficked into scam compounds annually, generating approximately $64 billion for organized criminal networks. NAPTIP noted that these operations are heavily concentrated in regions across Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos.

Domestically, the agency’s Cyber Response Team has disrupted several local cybercrime training networks and rescued 46 trafficking victims intercepted at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, along with 120 others in Kano. Between January and July 2026, the agency secured 47 convictions, bringing its total conviction count to 839.

International partners, including representatives from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Organization for Migration, and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, emphasized the need to expand economic opportunities for young people and treat forced scam workers as victims rather than criminals.