IOM
- New emerging technologies and COVID-19 have triggered opportunistic, predatory behaviour from organized criminal networks, which often utilize fraudulent travel documents and/or stolen or lost passports to facilitate migrant smuggling, trafficking in persons, and irregular migration.
The global border closures marked a drop in the number of irregular journeys, resulting in a significant loss of profit for organized criminal networks. Analysts observed that as travel and movement restrictions have been eased in some parts of the world, organized criminal networks started moving from a reactive position – taking advantage of migrants’ vulnerabilities – towards a more proactive role, by actively promoting their illegal services, and putting the lives of migrants at higher risks by using more perilous routes.