The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has raised concern over the growing use of fake job offers and digital recruitment by criminal gangs to lure vulnerable people into human trafficking and online scam operations across West and Central Africa.
The organisation said traffickers are increasingly adapting their methods, exploiting migration routes, labour markets and online platforms to recruit victims into forced labour, sexual exploitation and criminal activities, including internet scams.
In a statement issued Tuesday in Dakar to commemorate the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, themed “Trapped Behind the Scam,” IOM called for stronger regional cooperation and victim-centred interventions to tackle the evolving threat.
The agency noted that although trafficking into scam centres has received significant global attention, particularly in Asia, similar warning signs are becoming increasingly evident in West and Central Africa.
According to IOM, traffickers commonly use deceptive employment advertisements promising lucrative jobs abroad, only to subject victims to exploitation after arrival. Many victims are reportedly transported using tourist visas instead of work permits, have their travel documents confiscated, become trapped in debt bondage and are forced to repay inflated recruitment costs.
