Suspected Traffickers Arrested by Europol Lured Women from Hungary

Hungarian and German authorities have arrested human traffickers suspected of luring women from poorer regions of Hungary to Germany for sexual exploitation, the European Union’s police cooperation agency Europol announced on Thursday.

According to the statement, an investigation into the criminal organization was launched in 2023. The competent authorities discovered that the suspects had lured young Hungarian women to Germany with promises of marriage or well-paid jobs abroad. The victims, who came from particularly vulnerable social and economic backgrounds, were from the same region of Hungary.

The suspects forced the women into street prostitution in Germany, in several cases using violence. Among the members of the group accused of human trafficking was a woman who supervised the victims at the prostitution site, Europol detailed.

The German Criminal Inspectorate and the Hungarian National Bureau of Investigation THB Unit, supported by Europol, carried out simultaneous searches at nine locations on January 15, one in Germany and eight in Hungary.

During the coordinated operation, seven suspects were arrested, three in Germany and four in Hungary, and eleven victims of exploitation were identified.

The Hungarian and German authorities seized two properties, two vehicles, phones and documents, and confiscated cash, the EU police cooperation organization said.

Violent human traffickers stopped in Germany and Hungary: 7 arrested and 6 victims identified.

The suspects recruited the victims, young women from Hungary, via the so-called lover boy method.

Read the full story in our press release ⤵️https://t.co/aCAQLv4l5X pic.twitter.com/K3jaEwiCwf

— Europol (@Europol) January 23, 2025

Europol highlighted in their statement that the alleged traffickers applied the so-called “lover boy scam,” a technique widely used by criminals to recruit those facing economic and social hardship.

“The suspects target their victims’ vulnerabilities and seduce them with expensive gifts and promises of a better life abroad. Many victims end up leaving their families in search of love and new opportunities in other countries. Once they find themselves in their new home abroad, they are forced into prostitution to earn money for their handler. The victims are lured with affection, violence and even threats against them and their families back home,” the agency stated.

Suspected Budapest Antifa Attackers Surrender to German Authorities