The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) issued a public warning on Thursday, November 5, 2026, advising married women and gymgoers to remain vigilant against criminal syndicates exploiting casual social interactions in fitness centers to lure victims into sextortion, relationship scams, and human trafficking networks.
​Speaking at 10:00 AM during a joint security press briefing hosted at the Strategic Communication Centre within the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) complex in Abuja, NAPTIP spokesperson Mr. Adekoye Vincent revealed that perpetrators are increasingly shifting their tactics toward public fitness centers, sports clubs, and everyday social hubs to target unsuspecting individuals.
​According to Mr. Vincent, perpetrators build rapport using initial friendly gestures, routine workout conversations, and offers of fitness assistance.
Once a sense of trust is established, victims, particularly married women, are subtly manipulated into compromising situations, intimate digital exchanges, or deceptive romantic engagements that later deteriorate into financial extortion, digital blackmail, or human trafficking schemes.
​”Traffickers and fraudsters are increasingly targeting people in gyms, recreational centers, and other social environments, using seemingly harmless gestures and offers of assistance to gain their trust,” Mr. Vincent stated during the briefing.
He noted that the agency has ramped up its public sensitisation campaigns following a spike in reported cases involving online sextortion, non-consensual image distribution, and digital blackmail.
​Outlining NAPTIP’s recent operational breakthroughs, Mr. Vincent detailed how operatives rescued and received 221 trafficking victims passing through international airports in Abuja and Lagos, while enhanced surveillance at Aminu Kano International Airport led to the interception of 65 potential victims being recruited for foreign exploitation.
The agency’s legal units also secured 16 convictions for offenses related to human trafficking and violations of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act.
​In healthcare enforcement, NAPTIP collaborated with the Rivers State Government to shut down 16 unverified medical facilities in Port Harcourt involved in compromised healthcare and illegal baby-selling operations.
Furthermore, ongoing counter-trafficking operations in Benue and Nasarawa states yielded the recovery of six additional children, bringing the total number of rescued children in that ongoing network case to 117. The primary suspect in that scheme, who posed as a civil society leader, is currently facing prosecution in Makurdi.
​Concluding the briefing, NAPTIP urged members of the public to exercise heightened caution when forming new personal relationships in public or recreational settings.
The agency advised individuals to maintain clear personal boundaries with casual acquaintances at gyms and recreational facilities, refrain from sharing intimate photographs, video footage, or sensitive personal data across messaging platforms, and immediately report any extortion attempts or suspicious recruitment activities to law enforcement or via NAPTIP’s dedicated toll-free hotline at 627.
