World Day against Trafficking in Persons: UNICRI Launches Research on Emerging Scam-Centre-Style Ecosystems in Africa

On the occasion of the World Day against Trafficking in Persons, the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) joins the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT) in drawing attention to one of the fastest-growing forms of exploitation: trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced criminality, particularly through scam operations.

Across the world, organized criminal networks are increasingly exploiting victims through sophisticated scam operations. Individuals are recruited through deceptive employment opportunities, transported across borders and forced to conduct online fraud under threats, violence, debt bondage and other forms of coercion. Too often, these victims are treated as offenders rather than recognized as victims of trafficking.

While large-scale scam compounds in Southeast Asia have received increasing international attention, emerging evidence suggests that criminal networks continue to adapt their operating models and expand their geographic reach. Understanding these evolving dynamics is essential to strengthening prevention, victim protection and criminal justice responses.

To contribute to these efforts, UNICRI is launching a new research initiative on the emergence of scam-centre-style ecosystems across selected African countries.

The study will explore how scam-centre-style ecosystems may be emerging across different African countries, recognizing that these ecosystems may differ significantly from the large-scale compound model documented in Southeast Asia.

The research will focus on four key areas:

• mapping emerging operational models through African case studies;
• analyzing recruitment pathways, victim profiles and methods of coercion;
• examining the roles of organizers, facilitators, recruiters and other actors involved in scam-centre-style ecosystems; and
• identifying practical indicators and recommendations to support prevention, early victim identification, investigation and international cooperation.

The initiative seeks to address an important evidence gap. Although reports of scam-centre-style activity linked to Africa are increasing, current knowledge remains fragmented across trafficking cases, cybercrime investigations, law enforcement reporting and open-source information. By bringing together these different strands of evidence, the study aims to provide policymakers, law enforcement agencies and practitioners with a clearer understanding of emerging risks before they become more deeply entrenched.

The research will adopt a comparative methodology combining desk research, including analysis of local language sources, with in-depth interviews conducted across selected African case studies. Particular attention will be given to trafficking for forced criminality, digital recruitment methods, transnational organized crime, and the operational adaptations of criminal networks.

The study will culminate in a practitioner-focused analytical report featuring comparative case studies, emerging typologies of criminal exploitation in scam operations, victim-identification indicators and recommendations for governments, law enforcement agencies, victim-support organizations and international partners.

This initiative contributes to the objectives set out in the ICAT Joint Statement issued on the World Day against Trafficking in Persons by strengthening the evidence base on the evolving dynamics of trafficking for forced criminality in scam operations, supporting more effective victims identification, protection and criminal justice responses.

As organized criminal groups continue to exploit technological advances and vulnerable populations, UNICRI remains committed to supporting Member States through research, innovation and international cooperation to strengthen prevention, protect victims and disrupt the criminal networks behind these crimes.