NAPTIP Discloses Over 300,000 People Trafficked Into Southeast Asia Scam Hubs Yearly, Generate $64bn

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, has disclosed that more than 300,000 people are trafficked annually into online scam operations across Southeast Asia, generating an estimated $64 billion for transnational criminal networks.

Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, made the disclosure on Wednesday at a press briefing ahead of the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, warning that cyber-enabled trafficking was becoming a growing global threat.

She said victims of the trafficking networks are drawn from about 66 countries, with the highest number originating from Western and developed nations, while about 74 per cent of identified scam compounds are concentrated in the Mekong region.

Bello warned that the trend was gradually spreading to Nigeria and other African countries, making the fight against technology-driven human trafficking more urgent.

She said the agency had uncovered a disturbing shift in trafficking patterns, with educated and highly skilled Nigerian youths increasingly being lured by fake social media advertisements, scholarship opportunities and overseas employment schemes before being trafficked to countries including Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.

She explained that upon arrival, their passports are confiscated and they are subjected to threats, violence, debt bondage and psychological coercion, forcing them to participate in online fraud schemes such as romance scams, cryptocurrency fraud and investment scams.

Highlighting NAPTIP’s interventions, Bello said the agency rescued and repatriated more than 300 victims of cyber-enabled trafficking from neighbouring countries, including Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, in 2025.

She added that 156 additional victims had been rescued since January 2026 with support from partners.