Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on Thursday announced that it had completed 576 investigations into incidents of human trafficking in 2024 — a 13% percent jump from 2023 and the highest level since the BKA began compiling such data in 2000.

The largest share of cases (364) involved sexual exploitation, the highest level recorded by Germany's BKA in a decade.

Such exploitation is increasingly taking place in private homes, say authorities, a setting that is difficult to monitor. This leads the BKA to conclude that the actual number of crimes taking place is far greater than they have the capacity to know.

Victims and suspects often come from other European countries, with notable increases among Chinese and Colombian victims.

Weak online safeguards endanger children

Many victims are women, young people and minors according to the BKA, which says contact is often established online using the so-called "lover-boy method."

With this common tactic, men lure women into false relationships in order to create dependency before financially exploiting them through forced prostitution. "Increasingly, psychological and physical violence plays a role," the BKA said.

Minors are particularly at risk say police, with more than 200 cases involving children and adolescents, almost all in the context of commercial sexual exploitation.

"One reason for the increasing numbers here is, among other things, that various online platforms have too few protective mechanisms, which facilitates the exploitation of minors using the internet as a tool," said the BKA in Wiesbaden on Thursday. "In two cases, children were offered for sale online."

Laborers also being trafficked in large numbers

The BKA also said it investigated a record number of labor exploitation cases in 2024, saying, "The cases often involve temporary employment agencies and primarily people from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia."

Investigations into human trafficking and exploitation often arise from police work such as checks, explained the BKA, "Many victims do not contact authorities out of fear or ignorance of the legal situation. Accordingly, the shadow figure remains high."

Edited by: Wesley Dockery