ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigeria’s anti-human trafficking agency, NAPTIP, and the British High Commission in Abuja have warned Nigerians to scrutinize overseas job offers carefully, saying traffickers are increasingly using fake recruitment pitches to lure victims into forced cyber-fraud operations in Southeast Asia. The warning was issued at a survivor-centered event in Abuja focused on the growing “scam centre” crisis.
The event, titled “Confronting the Global Scam Centre Crisis: Perspectives of Nigerian Survivors,” featured testimonies from recently repatriated Nigerians who said they were promised lucrative work abroad, only to be trafficked to countries including Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand and forced to participate in online fraud schemes under abusive conditions. Reports from Nigerian outlets said the programme followed a recent trafficking case involving Nigerians in Thailand.
According to NAPTIP and its partners, a coordinated rescue effort involving the agency, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Embassy in Bangkok and British NGO EDEN led to the return of 23 Nigerian victims. The operation reportedly included field coordination near the Thai-Myanmar border and welfare visits to victims held at Bangkok’s Immigration Detention Centre before repatriation.
British Deputy High Commissioner Gill Lever said the UK was working with Nigerian authorities and partners to ensure survivors receive trauma-informed support and safe return. She described scam compounds as a global security threat, adding that criminal networks are estimated to defraud victims of more than $64 billion annually. Nigerian reports also quoted her as saying British citizens lost an estimated £11.4 billion to scams in 2024.
Representing NAPTIP’s Director-General, the agency’s Director of Public Enlightenment, Kehinde Akomolafe, said survivors’ accounts underscored that people trafficked into scam compounds should be treated as victims, not criminals. Survivors at the Abuja event recounted being held in guarded compounds, forced to work long hours on romance and investment scams, and subjected to beatings, electrocution, food deprivation and severe psychological trauma.
The warning comes as the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) has intensified global attention on the issue. In its report, “A Wicked Problem,” published on February 20, 2026, OHCHR said at least 120,000 people are believed to be trapped in forced scam operations in Myanmar, with more than 300,000 affected across Southeast Asia. OHCHR also said victims come from at least 66 countries, and highlighted deceptive job recruitment as a key trafficking pathway. Officials and partners in Abuja called for stronger cross-border cooperation, public awareness and survivor-focused responses to curb recruitment and hold trafficking networks accountable.
