Eritrean nationals accounted for 13% of referrals (3,083) and Vietnamese nationals 9% (1,998), the report said. It added that higher living costs, debt, and insecure work are contributing to increased exploitation, underlining how exploitation is increasingly affecting people within the UK. According to the IASC report, AI allows traffickers to operate with greater anonymity, scale and reach, using scams, deepfakes, and synthetic identities to identify, recruit and control victims at scale.
New exploitation tactics include 'debt bonding' and 'remote mothering' through digital means. The report did not specify how the 600% figure for AI-related increases was calculated, nor how the referral numbers compare to the estimated total number of modern slavery victims in the UK.