Recruitment usually begins in the country of origin, where victims are deceived, persuaded and abducted. The most common means through which vulnerable people become victims of trafficking is deception, typically by false promises of employment, good working conditions, perhaps even free housing and a good salary. In addition, the ‘lover boy’ method is also frequently used by traffickers in order to manipulate their victims. In these cases, victims get emotionally attached to their exploiters, who then propose to travel abroad or even get married. Victims of this type are usually minors, but there have been cases of adults.

Traffickers usually share links with the territory in which they operate, and originate from the same ethnic community or even share family ties with their victims. This ethno-linguistic aspect is crucial, especially where the trafficking of minors is concerned. The recruitment and transportation of victims is usually arranged by their fellow nationals. The final exploiters may be either local or foreign citizens.

In cases of non-EU victims, traffickers often persuade them to request a residence permit or apply for asylum in a transit country on arrival in the EU, which enables them to move within the Schengen area and to easily reach the locations where they will be exploited. A case recently reported involved Nigerian women trafficked using their own identity documents or look-alike documents, and travelling across the EU with Spanish and Italian residence and working permits.

Once in the destination country, victims are forced into prostitution. They work for many hours a day and most of their earnings are collected by their exploiters, though they may receive a very small salary in order to fulfil their basic needs. In many cases, victims are forced to repay the cost of their transportation and accommodation to their exploiters, and are kept in debt bondage for indefinite periods. Usually, the profits from the exploitation are sent back to the country of origin of the exploiters via different channels, mainly wire transfers or by cash couriers. When victims are transferring the money, they may do it under supervision by their exploiters. Victims can be also deployed as cash mules.

If victims are abused within the ‘dark market’, for example in countries where prostitution is illegal, their services are advertised through local newspapers or word of mouth, or via social media and dedicated escort and/or dating websites. In cases of child sexual exploitation, the advertisement of victims via social media is increasing, allowing offenders to easily access their personal data and to recruit potential victims, to share abusive material and to exchange information on destinations where it is easier to abuse minors. Occasionally, exploiters arrange appointments by telephone with potential clients or even issue ‘membership cards’ for clients.

Victims are made highly dependent on the members of the criminal organisation: receiving threats and subjected to coercion, through physical, psychological and/or financial threats. In cases of African victims, exploiters use voodoo rituals to make them more compliant with the abuse. However, the majority of victims are kept under control without violence. This is done through ‘soft methods’ of psychological intimidation, which reduce public attention and the chance of detection by law enforcement.

Some cases involve the use of digital surveillance systems (e.g. geo-location services provided by social media), through which exploiters monitor victims’ activities while remaining distanced from the sites of the exploitation. This provides an advantage to the offenders, who tend to operate from afar and thus reduce the risk of being detected by law enforcement.

Occasionally, victims are denied access to telephone contact, to prevent any other relationship except for the one with their exploiters. Traffickers also frequently transfer their victims from one city to another to maximise profits and/or to trade them with other exploiters. This rotation of victims (which also occurs across different countries) not only serves to ‘refresh’ the supply and avoid detection, but also prevents victims from establishing relationships with clients, outreach workers or social services. A number of cases reported to Europol of victims of sexual exploitation from Eastern Europe demonstrate that victims were first transferred to Austria, where they were forced into starting a prostitution career – exploiting the legal status of the prostitution industry – and later relocated to other MS, assigned to other cells of the same criminal network. In another case, Nigerian networks expanded geographically to several cities in Sweden, where they would advertise their activities and provide services for a few days, before moving on to a new destination.

Victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation are also forced to perform a range of criminal activities such as committing property crimes (e.g. ‘smash and grab’ raids, burglaries, thefts), begging, trafficking and selling drugs, sham marriages, forced labour and benefit fraud.

Source - https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/trafficking-in-human-beings-in-eu

PDF (Download at your own risk) - https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/thb_situational_report_-_europol.pdf