2026 Theme: Trapped behind the scam
theme, "Trapped Behind the Scam," draws attention to a rapidly expanding form of human trafficking in which transnational organized crime groups exploit people to carry out industrial-scale financial fraud. Victims are trafficked for forced criminality and compelled to participate in online scam operations. This form of exploitation is closely linked to cybercrime, financial fraud, money laundering, and corruption, demonstrating the increasingly interconnected nature of organized crime.
How victims become trapped
Traffickers often recruit victims through fake job advertisements that promise legitimate employment opportunities abroad. Believing they are accepting genuine work, victims travel to another country only to find themselves confined in illegal scam compounds.
Within these compounds, victims are forced to conduct cyber-enabled fraud, including romance scams, cryptocurrency fraud, and other online schemes targeting people around the world. They are kept under constant surveillance and subjected to violence, threats, debt bondage, and demanding work quotas, leaving them trapped in conditions of fear with little opportunity to escape.
A costly global crime
In East and South-East Asia, that scams caused between US$18 billion and US$37 billion in financial losses in 2023 alone. A high proportion of these losses is linked to scams carried out by organized crime groups based in the region.
Strengthening investigations
The UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is supporting countries across South-East Asia to improve victim identification, investigations and prosecutions related to trafficking for forced criminality, cyber-enabled fraud and money laundering. This includes advanced training, support for specialized taskforces and stronger cross-border cooperation.
Updating laws for modern crime
UNODC also advises countries on legal reforms needed to prosecute the full range of crimes connected to transnational organized crime, including large-scale money laundering, cyber-enabled crime and corruption.
Working Across Borders
Because these crimes often span multiple countries, international cooperation is essential. The , adopted by the General Assembly in December 2024, provides a new global framework to strengthen cooperation against digital crime, online fraud and technology-enabled organized crime.
The Convention supports faster international cooperation and more consistent collection and sharing of electronic evidence, helping authorities investigate and dismantle criminal networks operating across borders.
A call to action
On World Day against Trafficking in Persons 2026, UNODC calls for stronger action to protect victims and improve cross-border judicial and law enforcement cooperation. These efforts are essential to disrupting the organized crime groups behind trafficking-linked scam operations.
Why a Blue Heart?
The Blue Heart symbol represents solidarity with the victims and the cold-heartedness of those who buy and sell their fellow human beings.
How you can get involved
- Share, like and comment on the for the World Day #EndHumanTrafficking
- , which provides on-the-ground assistance and protection to victims of trafficking.
- Join the Blue Heart Community or see more ideas on .
Sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery…
Trafficking in persons is a serious crime and a grave violation of human rights. Every year, thousands of men, women and children fall into the hands of traffickers, in their own countries and abroad. Almost every country in the world is affected by trafficking, whether as a country of origin, transit or destination for victims. UNODC, as guardian of the 91茄子 Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) and the Protocols thereto, assists States in their efforts to implement the (Trafficking in Persons Protocol).
The Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.
The World Day against Trafficking in Persons was proclaimed by the 91茄子 General Assembly, in its resolution .
Did you know?
- 74% of traffickers operate within organized crime groups.
- In 2022, victims from 162 nationalities were trafficked to 128 different countries.
- About 70% of those investigated, prosecuted and convicted for trafficking in 2022 were men.
- African victims were the most widely trafficked group. They accounted for 31% of cross-border trafficking flows.
Source:
How to stay safe online
Human traffickers have become adept at using internet platforms, including social media channels, online marketplace sites, and free-standing webpages to recruit victims and attract clients. Follow these to protect yourself and your loved ones against human trafficking.
Child and youth safety online
Rising Internet connectivity has the potential to transform children and young people’s lives for the better, but also makes them vulnerable to sexual abuse, cyberbullying, and other risks. The UN is actively working to protect children and youth online through various programmes and initiatives.
Human Faces
HEAR THEIR STORIES Help Rebuild Their Lives
Read the stories of some of the many women, men and children, who have gained a second chance at life thanks to the effective and compassionate work of the NGO grantees of the , managed by the (UNODC).
