German and Hungarian authorities have dismantled a criminal network involved in human trafficking and sexual exploitation, the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) announced Friday.
The coordinated operation, which began in 2023, led to the identification of 11 victims in Germany and Hungary. During the action day, authorities seized two properties, two vehicles, mobile phones, documents, and cash.
Europol, which coordinated the activities, revealed that the criminal group used the so-called “lover boy” technique to target vulnerable young women from economically disadvantaged regions of Hungary. Traffickers would lure victims with false promises of lucrative jobs abroad or by feigning romantic relationships, preying on their economic and emotional vulnerabilities.
Once in Germany, victims were coerced into street prostitution through violence, manipulation, and threats. Authorities said the traffickers controlled the women with promises of affection, gifts, and threats of harm to their families back home.
Nearly all the suspects were men, with the exception of one woman who allegedly managed the victims in a brothel, according to Europol.
This case follows a similar incident in late 2023, when Spanish authorities arrested nine suspects and rescued 14 victims from a criminal group using the “lover boy” method to traffic and exploit women sexually.
