SPECIALIST police teams are scouring some of Scotland’s most popular escort websites as part of a fresh crackdown on human trafficking gangs.
Dozens of websites advertising men and women for sex are being monitored by officers in Police Scotland’s Human Trafficking unit.
Led by Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Houston, based at the Gartcosh crime campus, the team constantly monitor a range of sites they believe are offering sex with victims of trafficking.
Across just three of these sites they have identified almost 3000 profiles belonging to workers in Scotland, some of whom are certain to be trafficking victims.
On one site the Evening Times viewed there were 229 profiles for women in Glasgow alone while on another, 17 new adverts appeared for sex workers in the city in just one day.
The sites often allow punters to ‘review’ their experiences with sex workers - information which can also be used to inform police intelligence.
Using names such as ‘Shyboy’, ‘premierpunter’, patrons go online to tell others whether they would recommend ‘using’ the worker’s services.
One such review of a female worker in Glasgow states: “All in all a bit of a skank,” while another says: “She is so distant and only wants your money. I would give her 0/10, she is rubbish.”
Others complain the women cannot speak English, seem as if they do not want to be there or are so drunk they can’t stand up.
DCI Houston explained: “These people are very much victims here.
“If you go on to certain sites in Scotland today you will be astonished at the number of adverts there are for persons involved in prostitution. It’s quite massive.
“There is work we do around identifying those adverts, finding out who the people are.
“We need to look at the virtual world and how it can support us to identify victims, and helping them to get support.”
DCI Houston said the difficulties around using online sites is “trying to establish where they are being exploited”, particularly as trafficking victims who are used for prostitution are often moved around to stop them forming bonds with anyone.
He said: “We have seen in the past where you’ve got females with adverts in one [location] one day and in another [location] another day.
“Trying to ensure that it is the same person who is operating there, that’s a more difficult thing."
Along with trawling sites to glean more information about trafficking victims and their whereabouts, the National Human Trafficking Unit relies on contact from the public.
Many tip-offs about sex trafficking or exploitation come from people complaining about antisocial behaviour or visitors to their close at all times of the day and night.
Residents have also raised concerns about hearing footsteps in their neighbours’ homes but never seeing anyone leave the house.
Other indicators include multiple foreign nationals living in the same address, the tenants of properties changing often, or rubbish such as condoms or calling cards lying nearby.
“If the public raise concerns about something they have seen, that’s the type of information w e need to kick off investigations and make sure we are supporting the right people,” said DCI Houston.
“What we need to do is [get people to] recognise what the signs are if someone is being exploited.
“It is a key part of our work.”
The DCI said the internet has helped to make prostitution “more hidden” as it had reduced the level of on-street prostitution, pushing more punters towards arrange meetings via their smartphones as opposed to cruising well-known pick up points.
“It’s a technological advancement if you could call it that,” he said.
In Scotland overall last year, 103 adults and 43 children were identified as possible victims of trafficking, including sex trafficking.
In total, 51 adults and 25 children were found to be victims of labour exploitation, while 33 adults and six children were victims of sexual exploitation - an overall rise of around three per cent.
Of all the local authorities in Scotland who referred victims, Glasgow City Council had the highest number, referring 10 children out of a total of 15.
North Lanarkshire, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Highland councils also referred victims.
Of those identified as sex trafficking victims, the majority were from Albania and China, with others from Eritrea, Gambia, Vietnam, Romania and Nigeria.
Anyone who has concerns about trafficking, exploitation or slavery should contact the Modern Slavery Helpline on 0800 0121 700, or Police Scotland on 101.
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