By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
The First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, has warned Nigerians against fraudulent overseas employment and investment offers, describing them as a fast-growing tactic being used by traffickers to lure young people, including educated graduates, into exploitation and forced criminality.
Tinubu issued the warning on Thursday, 30 July, 2026 in a message to mark the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, observed annually on July 30, describing human trafficking as a form of modern-day slavery that had evolved beyond its traditional forms to exploit victims through online scams, forced criminality and transnational organised crime.
She explained that this year’s global theme, Trapped Behind the Scam, drew urgent attention to the growing trend in which traffickers deceived young Nigerians with promises of fraudulent overseas jobs and investment opportunities, only to trap them in exploitation once they fell for the offers.
She urged individuals, communities and institutions to remain vigilant against the evolving tactics of traffickers and to be wary of unsolicited job and investment offers from abroad.
The First Lady called for collective action to protect the vulnerable and ensure that no one fell victim to exploitation, stressing that such efforts could help build a safer society where every person could live in freedom, dignity and hope.
The World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2013, is observed annually to raise awareness of the plight of trafficking victims and to promote and protect their rights.
Nigeria remains one of the highest-burden countries for human trafficking globally, serving simultaneously as a country of origin, transit and destination for victims. According to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, approximately 156 victims had been rescued since January 2026 alone, with over 300 others repatriated from Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in 2025.
The agency’s Director-General, Binta Adamu Bello, had disclosed last week that over 300,000 people were being trafficked annually into scam compounds across Southeast Asia, where victims were forced, under threat of violence, to run romance scams, crypto fraud and investment schemes targeting victims in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.
The scam compound model, in which traffickers lure educated young Nigerians with promises of jobs in information technology, digital marketing and cryptocurrency trading before confiscating their passports on arrival and forcing them into online fraud, has emerged as one of the most rapidly growing trafficking trends in recent years, underscoring the First Lady’s call for Nigerians to be wary of fraudulent overseas job offers.
