‘Ordering a woman to be sexually exploited is as easy as ordering a takeaway’: How trafficking victims are being sold online
*Sarah thought she was going to a job interview to become a waitress.
Warning: This story includes graphic descriptions of sexual exploitation and abuse, including rape
Instead, she was lured to a strange man’s flat and held against her will for six months.
“One of the very first things he did was ask for me to hand over my passport to check that I had the right to work,” she says. “I remember him asking me kind of odd questions, like, ‘do you like sex?’
“I remember him taking me into another room within this flat and closing the door behind him, then locking the door. And then I was raped.“
She says her passport was used to create an online profile to advertise her for sex.
She had no control over the adverts, no access to the accounts, and was repeatedly abused by her trafficker and the men who booked her through the website.
“My abuser would say: ‘This man would like to see you, he’s booked you, but he’s requested sloppy seconds. Okay? I am going to rape you again so that when you go and see this man, you will take that to that man’,” she tells Sky News.
Sarah says she was forced to take on different names to match her trafficker’s rotating online personas.
She ultimately escaped after threatening to scream unless her abuser let her go.
“He just glared at me, furious,” she recalls. “But he opened the door. That was the moment I had. That was the moment I took. I ran out and never saw him again.”
Sarah’s abuser is now in prison. But the website that he used to facilitate her abuse is still operating.
A Sky News investigation has uncovered thousands of potential indicators of sexual exploitation on two of the UK’s most prominent adult service websites, raising serious concerns about how traffickers may be using these platforms to advertise and abuse victims like Sarah.
Analysis of more than 50,000 adverts on AdultWork and Vivastreet – two of the country’s largest escorting platforms – revealed a high concentration of red flags linked to organised exploitation, including repeated use of the same contact numbers, and/or duplicated advert text, across adverts for different women in different geographical locations.
Analysis of more than 50,000 adverts on AdultWork and Vivastreet revealed a high concentration of red flags indicating exploitation
These patterns, highlighted by the Sex Trafficking Indication Matrix (STIM), a research tool used to identify signs of trafficking, suggest some profiles may be linked to coercive networks.
In one case, the same phone number appeared in eight separate adverts for at least five different women, all listed with identical ages, nearly identical descriptions, but different photographs and spread across multiple UK regions.
Ads analysed by Sky News on the two adult service websites
Neither platform is accused of criminal activity, but experts and campaigners say the scale and nature of these indicators are red flags for potential abuse.
Prostitution is legal in England and Wales. But the controlling of prostitution for gain, sometimes called pimping, and the more severe crime of trafficking, are not.
“These platforms make it as easy to order a woman to be sexually exploited as it is to order a takeaway,” said Kat Banyard, director of campaign group UK Feminista.
“There are big questions for national policing to answer about why it is that this important investigation has had to be done by Sky News, and why it wasn’t national policing that was launching an investigation to uncover the scale of potential criminality on these sites.”
Over several months, Sky News used STIM indicators to assess escorting adverts across two platforms. On Vivastreet alone, more than 7,000 were linked to phone numbers that appeared multiple times – more than half the total number of listings at the time.
On AdultWork, over 1,000 ads were found to contain duplicated descriptions.
In one example on AdultWork, the same wording was used in 357 different listings – a sign that content may have been copied and pasted to cover for multiple individuals under a single operator.
The websites told us duplication can reflect legitimate activity, such as touring sex workers using aliases. However, opponents say their structure allows abusers to hide in plain sight.
Sky News can also reveal that officials at the Home Office met representatives from escorting websites 25 times between 2017 and 2024, under the previous Conservative government.
Critics argue these discussions have failed to lead to meaningful safeguards or regulation.
A Home Affairs Committee report in 2023 was highly critical of this kind of engagement.
And in parliament, pressure is building to take stronger action. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi has tabled an amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill that would seek to ban such websites altogether.
“This is a thriving, multibillion-pound industry, and we’re acting like there’s nothing to see here,” she says.
“It’s horrific, and I think more people need to be speaking out about it – this gives parliamentarians the opportunity to discuss and debate it on the floor of the house.”
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In a statement, a Vivastreet spokesperson said: “Experts are clear that indicators that may suggest exploitation can have innocent explanations.
“For example, it is a fact that many sex workers use different names and personas, and ‘touring’ – moving for short periods of time to different areas to take bookings – is a well-known practice.
“We take safety extremely seriously and deploy industry-leading security measures to detect, report, and remove potentially exploitative content, including new requirements that all adult category advertisers must undergo age and ID verification.”
AdultWork said: “Sexual exploitation is not tolerated in any form.
“We have strict internal policies in place to reinforce this and we are continually updating our internal systems for detecting accounts and requesting additional documents for evidence of legitimacy.
“We make it a priority to fully cooperate and comply with all law enforcement requests. Additionally, any indications or reports of trafficking are fully reviewed and if we find them to be suspicious, we proactively contact law enforcement.”
Whether escorting platforms can be better regulated – or whether they should be outlawed entirely – remains a point of national debate.
But with mounting evidence of potential exploitation and growing political scrutiny, campaigners say inaction is no longer an option.
“These platforms are so poorly moderated and poorly regulated,” Sarah says. “No one can sit behind a screen and know if someone’s being coerced or is at the mercy of a predator.”
*Sarah’s name has been changed to protect her identity
“I’m incredibly patriotic,” says Ross, “I love our flag.”
He’s pulling a trailer loaded with England flags, otherwise known as the flag of St George, and Union flags, while his friends carry a ladder.
They’re heading out to fly flags from lamp posts in his hometown, Lichfield.
The group carried flags to raise around Lichfield
We’re here to spend an evening with them – keen to understand why flags are appearing on streets across England and what people make of it.
As the flags go up, several passing drivers beep and shout their support.
But it isn’t long before a man and woman walk past, visibly annoyed.
“Shameful behaviour,” the woman tells the group.
One of Ross’s group calls back: “Why can’t you be proud?”
“I am proud, but we’re absolutely tripping over from patriotism to an overt display of nationalism,” the man replies.
“There have been many occasions throughout history where the British flag has been adopted by groups that I don’t agree with”.
It’s a tense moment.
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Octavia raises a flag in Lichfield
I ask Ross, 27, if the flying of the flags is timed to coincide with concerns about immigration.
“Yes,” he replies. “My personal stance on it is, yes, this is us saying ‘you’re in our country’, right?
“This is what we stand for, you bow to this flag how we do, right, and you shouldn’t be doing illegal things, and for example, raping the women and committing crimes, which we don’t agree with.”
Ross says there’s nothing wrong with being patriotic
He tells me some of the handful of people he’s with went to the same school as him. But Octavia, the only woman in their group, only met them recently.
“She bumped into us the other day, and now she’s a full-fledged flagger,” Ross says.
Octavia, 27, lifts her jumper to reveal she’s wearing an England flag dress.
“I saw him putting up the flags and I genuinely wondered why,” she says.
“He kind of explained to me, like, we’re protecting people of Britain, we are spreading awareness, that is literally all, and I was really happy to get involved”.
Octavia says she was happy to get involved
As the next flag is being put up, a man walks past and breaks into song.
“No surrender, no surrender, no surrender to the boats coming over,” he sings.
Ross, filming him, thanks him for his “performance”.
Many opinions but few solutions for debate that crosses dividing lines
Over the course of an evening in Lichfield, we struggled to find anyone who didn’t have an opinion on the flags appearing around the town.
Yet we did find people who were reticent to speak on camera, particularly those opposed to the flags being there.
This is a town where around 93% of residents were born in England, according to the census in 2021.
Unlike many British towns and cities, there is little visible evidence of the mass migration this country has experienced in recent decades.
Octavia, the newest recruit to the group of “flaggers” we met, grew up in Leicester, where just under 58% of people were born in England.
After meeting people opposed to the flags in Lichfield, she told me “they’re wealthy, they live in a nice area, they don’t actually have to go through the struggles that everybody else does”.
She then revealed her opposition to migrant hotels is in part because she was once at risk of homelessness and didn’t get state support.
But from what we saw, it would be wrong to conclude that there are obvious dividing lines in this debate.
On both sides, there were people from a range of different backgrounds, young and old.
Some see a display of pure patriotism. To others, it’s blatant nationalism that has to stop.
But in these uneasy times, the removal of any flags has been seized on as a political act that has sparked anger in communities.
A woman sees it all happen and tells us her husband has written to the council to ask for the flags to be removed.
She’s unhappy about how it may make the town feel for some people.
But she doesn’t want to go on camera – or even have her words recorded.
Bob says the number of flags going up has become ‘extreme’
I ask Ross about his political views.
He says he doesn’t belong to any party, but he tells me he supports Tommy Robinson – and had been with him the previous evening.
He got the flags they’re putting up from him.
Further down the street, we meet Bob. He’s just out for dinner. We get talking about the flags.
“It’s not a racist thing just to be wanting to look after your people,” Ross tells him.
Bob agrees, but is concerned about why flags are going up now.
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“It’s become quite extreme,” he says. I ask if he thinks the flag is being used as a racist symbol. “100% yeah, I do,” he says.
But an elderly couple over the road completely disagrees with him. “Of course, we support St George’s flag, we’re British,” the woman says.
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“There’s nothing wrong with showing the English flag,” her husband agrees.
It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t have a view on the flags appearing around the town. We leave Lichfield with a sense that they’re provoking strong feelings on both sides of a very live national debate.
Sir Keir Starmer has defended welcoming the Israeli president to Downing Street as MPs raised concerns about allowing him into the UK.
Sir Keir started Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) by saying “however difficult, the UK must not walk away from a diplomatic solution” to the war in Gaza.
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“We will negotiate and we will strain every sinew, because that is the only way to get the hostages out, to get aid in and to stop the killing,” he told MPs.
The PM said he will be “absolutely clear that we condemn Israel’s action” in bombing Hamas leaders in Qatar, during his meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday afternoon.
His visit comes just a day after Israel carried out the strike in Qatar.
The PM added that it would be the “politics of students” not to meet Mr Herzog after the SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn gave an impassioned speech against the Israeli president’s visit.
Mr Flynn said: “Would he invite Vladimir Putin into No 10? Would he invite Benjamin Netanyahu into No 10?
“What does it say of this prime minister that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?”
Isaac Herzog is in the UK. File pic
Following Mr Herzog’s visit to Number 10, the Israeli president said: “Britain and Israel are friends, but among friends there are sometimes disagreements.”
He said he “made clear” the UK’s intention to recognise a Palestinian state would “in no way help bring the hostages home, help the Palestinians, or help bring an end to the conflict” – but would instead “embolden extremists”.
The president also told Sir Keir it was “dangerous” to “echo Hamas’s propaganda campaign of starvation in Gaza”.
MPs question Herzog visit
Dozens of MPs from all parties, including Labour, questioned the legal standing of Sir Keir welcoming Mr Herzog.
The Israeli president previously said there are “no innocent civilians in Gaza” and “it is an entire nation that is responsible”.
He was also pictured signing an artillery shell before it was fired towards Gaza in December.
The prime minister’s spokesman said the attack in Qatar is a “clearly unacceptable act” and said it “of course” would be one of the subjects raised with Mr Herzog.
He added Sir Keir will be “clear” with Mr Herzog about the risk of Israel escalating its actions.
Handcuffs not handshakes
New Green Party leader Zack Polanski called for “handcuffs not handshakes” as he said Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit should be waiting inside Number 10 to handcuff Mr Herzog “and take him away for questioning”.
Mr Polanski, who won the Greens leadership election last week and is Jewish, accused Mr Herzog of being “complicit while the Israeli government has engaged in committing genocide in Gaza”.
Zack Polanski. Pic: PA
Israel has continually denied it is carrying out a genocide in Gaza, but last week, the world’s leading association of genocide scholars declared it is. Earlier this week, the UK government concluded Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza.
Herzog is a conduit
The Liberal Democrats tabled an urgent question following PMQs, calling on the foreign secretary to make a statement on the implications of Israel’s strike in Qatar.
Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer took to the despatch box to defend Mr Herzog’s visit, saying: “President Herzog is on a private visit to the UK.
“He is not a functional part of the government; he is an important conduit to raise these concerns.”
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In full: Wednesday’s PMQs
Mr Falconer said the UK is supporting a motion for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday evening and revealed Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is speaking to the E3 (UK, France and Germany) and G7 allies, including the US about Israel’s attack on Qatar.
He added that Ms Cooper met Mr Herzog in the morning and “amongst other things” asked him to ensure greater support from the Israeli government to get children with injuries and students out of Gaza.
As PMQs was taking place, union members at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) conference unanimously passed a motion to oppose Mr Herzog’s visit.
On Tuesday evening, 60 cross-party MPs and Lords gathered outside parliament to condemn Mr Herzog’s visit after they sent a letter to Sir Keir asking what legal advice the government has received about Mr Herzog’s visit and whether his entry to the UK “is compatible with our obligations under the Genocide Convention”.
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