Police uncovers e-pimping networks posing as modeling and talent agencies
Police from seven European countries say they have uncovered dozens of suspected human trafficking and sexual exploitation cases involving so-called “e-pimps” and fake modelling agencies operating through online subscription platforms. Victims, among whom were minors, were forced to create “online content” for as little as $3.
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Police from seven European countries say they have uncovered dozens of suspected human trafficking and sexual exploitation cases involving so-called “e-pimps” and fake modelling agencies operating through online subscription platforms. Victims, among whom were minors, were forced to create “online content” for as little as $3.
- Police say “e-pimping” networks posing as modelling and talent agencies are recruiting women, minors and vulnerable people into online sexual exploitation schemes via subscription platforms.
- The operation led by INTERPOL and OSCE identified 34 suspicious cases, 18 suspect profiles and 27 potential victims across seven European countries.
- Victims were allegedly recruited through social media and encrypted apps, then pressured into producing explicit content behind paywalls while criminals kept most of the profits.
- Investigators also found large online networks, crypto payments, and AI-generated fake profiles used to scale and conceal the exploitation.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Officers from INTERPOL and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) had carried out operation “CyberProtect III,” and the results were beyond what one could normally expect from a four-day hackathon.
Fourteen investigators managed to uncover 34 suspicious cases, identified 18 suspect profiles, and located 27 potential victims believed to have been drawn into criminal networks operating on content subscription services.
Authorities say their findings point to a growing criminal business model – organised networks that recruit women, minors, and vulnerable people to produce sexual content for subscription-based platforms.
“Victims are lured with promises of income before being funneled into exploitative content production,” claims INTERPOL.
Investigators found evidence that traffickers were posing as modeling agencies and talent managers, using social media and encrypted messaging apps. Once recruited, victims were psychologically pressured into producing “increasingly explicit content”, with criminal groups retaining most of the profits and control of the victims’ accounts.
According to the officers, most of the content was behind a paywall and accessible only to subscribers. That enabled traffickers to evade detection.
Officers also discovered online coaching programmes that were marketed to men who were eager to learn how to make a profit from exploiting women via content subscription platforms.
“This emerging threat is often referred to as ‘e-pimping’, describing traffickers who use digital tools to orchestrate exploitation at scale,” claims INTERPOL’s report.
In one case, police identified a messaging group containing up to 28,000 advertisements linked to the buying and selling of content producers and account management services.
The investigation also found that women of South-American origin had “high prevalence” when it came to both real-life and virtual sexual exploitation.
Recruiters would keep in touch with their victims via encrypted messages and find new ones by asking to share nude images of them without verifying how old they were.
Victims who would create content at the abusers’ request would get paid in cryptocurrencies and diamond emojis (which are transferable to virtual currencies). As per the officers’ report, they’d be paid as little as $3 for 25 minutes of private video.
The e-pimps belonged to online communities on social media platforms where they’d share tactics for recruiting “content makers” and give advice on “maximising profits.”
Some of the criminals were using AI tools to create fake profiles online.
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