The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) has revealed that a human trafficking network known as “Model Q” has been exploiting vulnerable young people through fake job offers, scholarship opportunities and investment schemes, forcing many victims into online scams and sexual exploitation.
Speaking in an interview on TV3’s Ghana Tonight, Tuesday, July 7, Senior Legal Officer and Prosecutor at EOCO, Sedina Gbeve, said the activities of Model Q came to the attention of authorities after numerous reports emerged of people being trafficked into and out of Ghana under false promises of employment and financial opportunities.
She explained that investigations initially suggested a link to the multinational direct selling company, QNET, prompting EOCO to monitor the activities more closely.
According to Gbeve, further investigations established that while the perpetrators were using the QNET brand to deceive victims, the company itself was not behind the criminal activities.
“The activities of Model Q have been around for some time, but they escalated last year when we received several reports from Ghana and other African countries that people were being trafficked into and out of Ghana and lured into various activities,” she said.
“We realized that it was connected to Q-NET. So we went further and engaged QNET that is when we realise that it was not QNET that was perpetuating this crime but it was people who were using the name of the company to traffic human beings,” she noted.
She disclosed that EOCO subsequently signed a memorandum of understanding with QNET last year to strengthen collaboration in combating the criminal network.
Sedina Gbeve said the scale of the problem became more evident during an INTERPOL regional conference on human trafficking held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where countries across West and Central Africa recognised Model Q as an emerging transnational trafficking model requiring coordinated regional action.
This, she noted, informed EOCO’s decision to host a regional coordination and case resolution workshop bringing together African countries to develop joint strategies against human trafficking and migrant smuggling linked to the Model Q modus operandi.
She explained that the criminal network disguises itself as a legitimate business opportunity, targeting young adults from vulnerable backgrounds through social media platforms, messaging applications, fake employment portals, and fraudulent scholarship and investment websites.
The traffickers, she said, often pose as consultants, international recruiters or successful entrepreneurs, promising overseas jobs, professional training and financial rewards through multi-level marketing schemes.
“All the criminals under the Model Q disguise themselves as giving legal opportunities to people. They target young adults from vulnerable backgrounds through online platforms including social media, messaging apps, fake employment portals and scholarship or investment websites.
“They pose as consultants, international recruiters or successful entrepreneurs promising foreign employment, training or financial gains via multi-level marketing schemes,” Gbeve remarked.
Victims are typically required to make payments for supposed visa processing, training programmes or registration fees through mobile money or other formal payment channels, believing they are pursuing genuine opportunities.
However, Sedina Gbeve revealed that many victims end up being exploited after being trafficked.
“We have discovered that they usually force people into online scams. They exploit women and force them to have non-consensual sex with other men, and they receive payment for that,” she stated.
To combat these activities, EOCO said it is hosting a workshop which has brought together over 16 African countries familiar with the Model Q operations with the objective to identify the networks operating under Model Q and establish a formal and informal regional referral network for sharing best practices and also giving intelligence to each other.
EOCO further noted that it has embarked on a massive public awareness campaign two months ago in Ashanti Region where residents received detailed explanations about the operations of Model Q.
Sedina Gbeve stressed that the awareness campaign has yielded valuable feedback.
