The data
Every case on SlaveryMap, drawn from public sources and shown with its location deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
631 of 1,631 cite a source · Updated
Showing 1–24 of 548
Nigeria
Recruitment hub for European trafficking route. Young women deceived with promises of hairdressing jobs subjected to debt bondage of 35000-70000 euros Accused: Nigerian Madams operating from Italy with local recruiters.
United States
Family smuggled Brazilian migrants into the US for $18,000-22,000 fees, then forced them to work off the debt at two Woburn restaurants under threats of violence and deportation. Accused: Jesse James Moraes, Hugo Giovanni Moraes, and Chelbe Willams Moraes.
United States US
In April 2024, an El Cajon man tried to recruit a 14-year-old high school student for commercial sex. A week later he recruited a 22-year-old woman experiencing homelessness online and sent her to work in street prostitution in National City for his own profit.
United States
Three individuals held immigrant women against their will at a Houston residence, forcing labor while also running a pirated CD/DVD distribution operation from the same property. Accused: Estela Aguilar-Lopez, Blanca Estela Lopez-Aguilar, and Francisco Ivan Rodriguez-Garcia.
India
Women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked into brothels. Debt bondage and document confiscation used for control Accused: Cross-border trafficking network with brothel operators.
Spain ES
Police dismantled a crime group forcing women into prostitution across four brothels on the Costa del Sol. At least 500 women were exploited.
United States
Online sex trafficking operation advertised victims on commercial sex websites. Victims moved between cities Accused: Multi-person trafficking organization.
United States
A Micronesian couple recruited two young men from Micronesia with promises of legal US work, then withheld their passports to coerce their labor at a meat processing plant. Accused: Micronesian couple (Federated States of Micronesia citizens) operating in Ottumwa, Iowa.
United States
Federal agents broke up cyber-enabled trafficking using social media recruitment encrypted messaging and cryptocurrency Accused: Multi-state digital network.
United States
Couple brought a Guinean girl to their Texas home at age of a minor child and forced her to labor unpaid in their household for over 16 years until neighbors helped her escape. Accused: Mohamed Toure and Denise Cros-Toure.
Mexico MX
Eight Colombian women who had been missing since January 5, 2024, when they were taken to a private party to be sexually exploited as escorts, were found alive in Villahermosa, Tabasco. Colombian authorities said they had been taken by a trafficking network allegedly led by a man linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Tabasco prosecutors took the women into protective custody.
Netherlands NL
Nigerian women were trafficked through Libya to the Netherlands for forced prostitution and controlled through voodoo rituals and debt bondage.
United States
A married couple ran a scheme bringing Thai nationals to work at their Portland-area restaurants under fraudulent visas, then compelled their labor under the resulting debt. Accused: Tanya Jumroon and Paul Jumroon of Beaverton, Oregon.
Nigeria
Young women and girls from Edo State are systematically recruited with false job promises and trafficked through Libya to Europe for sexual exploitation, controlled through debt bondage and traditional oath-taking rituals. Accused: Trafficking networks operating recruitment pipelines from Edo State through Libya.
United States
Sex trafficking ring used beatings threats starvation and manufactured debts to coerce adult and minor victims into commercial sex Accused: Ringleader and five accomplices.
United States
A Denver-area man brought foreign nurses to the US under false pretenses via visa fraud, then collected much of their pay while threatening deportation if they complained. Accused: Kizzy Kalu of Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
United Kingdom GB
Vulnerable women were recruited in Romania and transported to the United Kingdom for sexual exploitation. The organized crime group operated an escort agency in London, took at least half of the victims’ earnings and charged them for transport, lodging and advertising, creating financial dependency. Threats and violence were used to maintain control.
Mexico
Trafficking ring recruited women from rural Tlaxcala with false romantic promises. Forced into commercial sexual exploitation in the capital Accused: Multi-generational trafficking family network.
Nepal NP
Nepali girls and women, often lured by relatives or acquaintances, are trafficked across the open border to India and sold to brothels. Maiti Nepal rescued 30 Nepali girls and women from India in one year.
Cyprus CY
Women, primarily from Eastern Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, are subjected to sex trafficking in Cyprus, including in bars, pubs, coffee shops, massage parlors and cabarets. Some are recruited through false promises of marriage or work as barmaids or hostesses.
United States US
An 11-day FBI-led operation ahead of Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta, from January 23 to February 2, 2019, led to 169 arrests, including 26 traffickers and 34 people attempting to engage in sex acts with minors. Nine juvenile sex trafficking victims were recovered, the youngest 14, and nine adult victims were identified.
Colombia CO
Colombian authorities arrested 18 people, including hotel owners, police and a navy captain, in a sex trafficking ring that recruited girls aged 14 to 17 and sold them to tourists in Cartagena, exploiting more than 250 women and girls.
United States US
A Miami man tricked at least six women into traveling from Cuba to the US through Mexico to work as "dancers", then forced them to work in Miami strip clubs and as prostitutes. He used threats, assaults, a firearm and debt bondage to control them, and threatened their families.
India IN
Kolkata police, working with IJM, rescued three young women, aged about 18 to 20, who had been trafficked from Bangladesh and forced into prostitution in a two-story brothel in one of the city's red-light districts.