Human trafficking and exploitation have reached a new negative record in Germany, as reported by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on Thursday in Wiesbaden regarding the number of preliminary investigations in 2024. According to the report, 576 preliminary investigations were completed last year, more than ever since records began in 2000. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of more than 13 percent.
In over 200 cases, children and young people were victims of exploitation, according to the BKA. Of these, 195 cases involved commercial sexual exploitation. One reason for this is that there are too few protective mechanisms in place on various online portals. This encourages the exploitation of minors on the internet. In two cases, children were offered for sale on the internet.
The investigating authorities focused on cases of sexual exploitation. With 364 investigations, this was the highest level in the past ten years. It is striking that this form of exploitation is increasingly taking place in private homes, an area that is difficult to control. This suggests that there is a particularly high number of unreported cases.
The victims and suspects of sexual exploitation often come from other European countries, with a sharp increase in Chinese and Colombian victims. The victims are often women and young people, not infrequently minors.
Contact is often established via the internet. The so-called “loverboy” method is often used to create emotional dependencies: a male perpetrator first lures younger female victim into an emotional dependency by pretending to be in a romantic relationship, in order to later introduce her to prostitution and exploit her financially.
According to the BKA, 2024 saw a new high in the number of completed investigations into labor exploitation. These often involved temporary employment agencies, with victims mainly from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia.
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