In a chilling tale of deception and exploitation, a BBC Africa Eye investigation has uncovered the harrowing story of families torn apart by a human trafficking scheme masquerading as a legitimate business. The scam, known as QNET, has ensnared thousands across West Africa, with criminal gangs using the company’s name to lure vulnerable individuals with false promises of work opportunities abroad.
Foday Musa, a father from central Guinea, is one of the many victims of this cruel scheme. In February 2024, his 22-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter, along with five others from their remote village, were recruited by agents promising them jobs overseas. However, these promises never materialised, and the group was instead taken across the border into Sierra Leone and held captive.
“My heart is broken. I can’t stop crying. If you look at my eyes, you can see the pain,” Musa told BBC Africa Eye, who were granted exclusive access to the police unit assisting him in his search for his missing children.
The investigation revealed that the traffickers target people with the promise of work opportunities in countries like the US, Canada, Dubai and Europe, asking them to pay large sums of money for administrative costs before they can start the job. Once the payments are made, the victims are often trafficked to a neighbouring country and told they can only travel abroad once they recruit others into the scheme.
Mahmoud Conteh, the head of investigations at the anti-trafficking unit of Interpol within the Sierra Leone police, explained the ease with which these traffickers can manoeuvre across borders. “It’s very easy for these traffickers to manoeuvre across each of our borders at these illegal crossing points,” he said.
The BBC joined the police on several raids in Makeni, Sierra Leone, where hundreds of young people, mostly from Guinea, were found to have been trafficked across the region. While some were rescued, the police acknowledged the difficulties in securing successful prosecutions, with only four trafficking convictions in Sierra Leone between July 2022 and April 2025.
The story of Aminata, a 23-year-old Sierra Leonean, further illustrates the tactics used by the traffickers. She was introduced to people claiming to represent QNET and was told she would go on a course before flying to the US for further study and work. However, the only catch was that she had to pay $1,000 to join the scheme.
Aminata managed to convince six friends and relatives to join the scheme, still hoping the job in the US would materialise. It never did. “I felt awful because they wasted their money and they suffered because of me,” she told the BBC.
Musa’s children were not found during the raids, and he had no choice but to return to Guinea without them. Conteh later informed the BBC that the traffickers had released Musa’s children not long afterward, but their whereabouts remain unknown.
The BBC’s investigation highlights the devastating impact of this trafficking scam, which has torn apart families and left countless individuals trapped in a cycle of exploitation. As the authorities continue to grapple with the challenge, the victims’ stories serve as a stark reminder of the urgent need to address this crisis and protect the vulnerable from such predatory schemes.
