Balkan countries are key destinations for the trafficking of Latin American women for sexual exploitation.

In October 2025, a taskforce led by Europol — working alongside police in Albania, Colombia and Croatia, and supported by Eurojust — dismantled a major human trafficking network operating across Europe. The group, which was mainly composed of Colombian nationals, had recruited young women in Latin America and lured them to Albania under false pretences.¹ Once there, they were forced into sex work, often under the threat of violence against their families back home.

In some cases, the gang took relatives of the victims hostage to ensure compliance.² Following an eight-month investigation by Albanian and Colombian authorities, seven suspects were arrested. Women who had been exploited were found in hotels and rented apartments. During the operation, 54 victims from Latin America were identified: 44 in Albania, five in Croatia and five in Colombia.³

The network employed brutal methods of control, including drugging and violently assaulting victims, while the profits from sex work were systematically collected and transferred in cryptocurrency to the Colombian gang leader.⁴ During searches in Colombia, investigators uncovered Bitcoin codes and numerous receipts for money transfers linked to the operation, indicating illicit gains of more than €1 million since January 2025.⁵

This case is just the tip of the iceberg. As indicated by the GI‑TOC Organized Crime Index,⁶ human trafficking for sexual exploitation is an established trend in the Western Balkans, and there has been a significant increase in the number of foreign women arriving in the region to work in the sex industry, particularly from Latin America. In fact, a review of media reports of police operations and victim testimonies, as well as an assessment by a shelter organization, clearly showed that by far the most sex workers in the region are recruited and controlled by criminal networks.⁷

Furthermore, what was once an underground trade has now moved online, with global digital platforms enabling a sophisticated and profitable system of sexual exploitation. Here, the term ‘independent escort’ is often used to deceive clients, website operators and authorities into believing that the women are not working under duress.⁸

The implications of online sexual services

In addition to fuelling human trafficking, online sexual services facilitate money laundering and tax evasion. Prices on these platforms generally range from €200 to €800, with overnight sessions usually costing more. While payments are usually made in cash, the growing use of cryptocurrency and prepaid services is complicating efforts to track financial flows.⁹

The websites are well-maintained and professional, featuring profile photos, service listings, prices, contact details, real-time availability and even customer ratings. They provide various search categories, ranging from nationality and age to levels of accreditation. One particular platform has nearly 3 500 verified accounts listed across the Western Balkans, mainly in Albania, Serbia and Montenegro.¹⁰

Ulcinj, a popular holiday destination in Montenegro. The growing number of tourists in the region, particularly in their capital cities and coastal zones, has led to increased demand for sex work, particularly online.

Photo: Maxim Konankov/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The growing number of tourists in Albania and Montenegro, particularly in their capital cities and coastal zones, has driven the demand for online sexual services. The growth is particularly notable in Montenegro, which, despite having the smallest population in the region, at around 600 000, ranks among the countries with the highest number of registered accounts on these platforms. The women originate from a wide range of areas, mainly Latin America, followed by Asia, Europe and Africa. Some countries of origin have visa-free agreements with Schengen and Western Balkan countries, meaning their travel is unrestricted — a factor exploited by traffickers.

The fact that many trafficking victims are foreign nationals and thus unfamiliar with the local environment makes it easier for transnational organized crime groups to maintain control. In addition, the small size of the Western Balkans, coupled with its high level of interconnectedness and porous land borders, means that people can be moved from one nation to another within hours, evading detection by the security forces.

Victims are sometimes recruited with the false promise of legitimate employment.¹¹ They are often accommodated in low-cost apartments for short periods of one to two months before being replaced by others.¹² This practice provides anonymity, due to a lack of sufficient tenant verification by property owners, and significantly hinders law enforcement efforts, as it becomes more difficult to trace individuals or uncover the networks behind these activities.

Local and foreign criminal networks collaborate on every aspect of the process, from recruitment, travel and accommodation to facilitating client meetings. They reportedly collect profits ranging from 30%–50% of the sex worker’s earnings.¹³

Brazil and Colombia: main source countries

In recent years, authorities in Kosovo have noticed a pattern of Latin American women arriving from Albania and leaving again after just a few days.¹⁴ A GI‑TOC review of listings on a popular sexual services website revealed that most verified accounts in Kosovo and Albania — whether affiliated with an agency or working independently — belonged to Colombian nationals. Brazilians constituted the largest group in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the second-largest group in North Macedonia, where most so-called ‘independent escorts’ were Brazilian. In Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia, the most prevalent nationality was Russian, while Latin American nationalities were among the top three in North Macedonia and Serbia.¹⁵

In late 2024, North Macedonia’s interior ministry announced the arrest of three Macedonian nationals and a Brazilian woman suspected of setting up a network to recruit, transport and house five Brazilian women in Skopje for the purpose of sexual exploitation. According to officials, the Brazilian woman was the primary suspect, allegedly responsible for managing the victims’ online profiles and arranging appointments. In exchange for these services, she took a 30% commission from the victims’ earnings, which she then shared with the other two suspects.¹⁶ The authorities alleged that some of the proceeds were funnelled electronically to recipients in Portugal and Brazil, while the rest covered local expenses such as rent and operational costs.

In October 2022, Croatian authorities uncovered a case of sexual exploitation in Split involving five Brazilian women and a 32-year-old coordinator from Peru. The investigation expanded in 2023, resulting in further arrests, including a 19-year-old man from Šibenik and a 23-year-old Serbian woman. They were both accused of facilitating sex work by Brazilian women in Šibenik and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina.¹⁷

Interviews with law enforcement officials and individuals familiar with local criminal networks in Mostar revealed a consistent pattern over the past three years.¹⁸ Women from Latin America, often posing as tourists, frequently travel from Split to Mostar by bus or rental car, where they rent apartments for short stays of one to two weeks. After returning to Split, they often repeat this cycle, maintaining a strategy of short-term residence and relocation between the two cities to avoid detection.

Apart from Latin America, many of the victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in the Western Balkans appear to originate from Asian countries. In January 2025, for instance, Albanian authorities in Tirana arrested a Turkish national suspected of recruiting women from China and Kazakhstan for the purposes of sexual exploitation.¹⁹ Troublingly, nine women were also detained for engaging in sex work, demonstrating how victims are often criminalized in regions where the activity is illegal. Prosecutions such as this make it more difficult for trafficked women to escape their situation, and they appear to be particularly common in Albania.²⁰

Another case in Tirana in 2024 involved Chinese perpetrators and victims. A network led by two Chinese women was dismantled after one was arrested and the other fled. The pair allegedly recruited young women from China and the Philippines, intimidating and terrorizing them and their families. In one instance, an accomplice of the ringleaders extorted €15 000 from a victim by threatening to share explicit photographs of her should she attempt to leave.²¹

At the time of writing, between four and six Asian women were renting apartments in Mostar to provide sexual services, according to interviews with local sources. These cases are reportedly not isolated or spontaneous, but form part of a broader, cross-border criminal network.²²

Responses vary by country. Although a number of networks have been dismantled regionally, in Belgrade in Serbia — the origin point for the largest number of online sex work profiles in the region — the issue has received little attention from the media or the authorities, who have made no significant efforts to dismantle sex trafficking networks. In Montenegro, a local media outlet reported on the presence of sex workers in one of the capital’s most prominent and densely populated neighbourhoods. When asked about the situation, the Higher State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica stated that it had no information about the website in question or any similar platforms and confirmed that no investigations were currently underway.²³

Robust, collective response is needed

The expansion of cyber-enabled human trafficking and sexual exploitation in the Western Balkans requires a stronger and more coordinated response from law enforcement and social services than has been seen so far. Law enforcement agencies must move away from criminalizing victims and towards strengthening their sporadic efforts to identify and disrupt criminal networks. Border authorities should conduct more thorough entry checks on people arriving from countries that are commonly used to source victims of human trafficking. Transnational trafficking networks in the region exploit legal loopholes and weak cross-border cooperation. The exchange of information and the establishment of national and regional joint investigation teams will be essential to dismantling this form of organized crime.

A comprehensive response would also include robust support systems for victims. Many trafficked people are unable to seek help due to language barriers, fear of the authorities or a lack of access. Social services should be staffed with trained professionals and interpreters, particularly those who speak Spanish and Portuguese, in order to provide urgent, culturally sensitive support. It is also crucial to ensure that victims are protected and empowered to testify, both for their recovery and for the successful prosecution of those responsible.

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