From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has raised the alarm that human traffickers have invaded the digital space, using different digital tools to lure their victims with, perhaps, unrealistic mouth-watering offers and opportunities.
The agency said more young people who are actively present in the social media and other digital spaces/tools are ignorantly falling victims of the antics of these human traffickers, an indication that there is a shift from physical recruitment to virtual recruitment through virtual assessment of victims and proxy negotiations.
NAPTIP Director General, Fatima Waziri-Azi, disclosed the development in Abuja, yesterday, at a press conference to herald a week-long event to mark the 2022 world day against human trafficking with the theme “use and abuse of technology.”
She said 2022 commemoration focuses on the role of technology as a tool that can enable, as well as impede human trafficking.
“This theme is timely, couldn’t have come at a better time considering the fact that human traffickers now operate online as much as they do offline. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it is the re-enforcement of the need for digital channel of communication which has led to a massive digital transformation.
“The fact remains that, while technology has come as a great relief and a major boost in the way of life of people, the same has left much to be concerned, because human traffickers have also caught on to this digital transformation.
“The internet, unarguably, provides easy access to a larger pool of potential victims because geographical limitations no longer exist, thereby increasing the ease with which traffickers locate and recruit their victims; control and organise transportation for victims, communicate among perpetrators, and hide criminal proceeds,” she said.
She said NAPTIP has, lately, recorded significant increase in reports of fake job advertorials and fake scholarships via social media, as traffickers uses the platform to recruit unsuspecting victims.
“Traffickers also use the digital platforms to control their victims. Besides oath taking, they make nude videos of their victims and threaten to share the exclusive images online,” she said.
She said the agency has secured partnership with Meta, owners of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, to use their expertise to monitor online activities that expose Nigerians to human traffickers.