‘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
A man has died after suffering cardiac arrest onboard a boat attempting to reach the UK.
The vessel turned back towards Equihen beach on the French coast yesterday morning.
A nurse tried to resuscitate the man but was unsuccessful.
Pic: PA
French authorities have now launched an investigation into the circumstances.
A spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders, also known as MSF, has criticised authorities on both sides of the Channel.
Jacob Burns said: “Yet again we have a tragedy in the Channel, that is the consequence of the deadly, costly and ineffective security policies implemented by the UK and France.”
Pic: PA
Later on Saturday, a lifeboat carried migrants who have made the voyage into the Port of Dover.
Photographs showed them huddled under blankets and orange life jackets on board.
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Provisional statistics from the Home Office suggest almost 24,000 people have arrived on small boats in the UK so far this year.
Towns and cities across the UK have seen protests in recent days, primarily outside hotels believed to be housing asylum seekers.
Here the Lionesses are again. Another final. Another showdown with Spain.
All of a sudden, what was once so anticipated and longed for can start to seem expected rather than extraordinary.
What happened to the great underachievers of world football? They are now consistently among the final two going for glory.
At Euro 2022, the Lionesses ended England’s 56-year wait for a major trophy by beating Germany 2-1 after extra time. Pic: Reuters
No one is taking that for granted.
Especially not Leah Williamson, with the chance to retain the European Championship trophy lifted three years ago at Wembley.
“The opportunity of tomorrow and what’s on offer is the best thing in football,” the England captain said. “I think we don’t necessarily carry the weight of it and how much it means to people, but we’re aware of it because it means the same to us.”
So often they were only watching other nations making finals.
England’s first was the men winning the 1966 World Cup.
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Lionesses ‘know what win would mean to nation’
Then, with the rebirth of women’s football after bans and neglect, it was the Lionesses’ turn to make it to the finals – in 1984 and 2009.
And the Three Lions had to wait until 2021 to make it to a final, losing to Italy on penalties at Wembley.
It kickstarted an incredible run of five successive years of finals for England senior teams – with another men’s Euros final defeat in 2024.
The Lionesses have led the way, bringing football home by defeating Germany in the Euro 2022 final at Wembley.
They just missed out on going one better when reaching a first Women’s World Cup final a year later.
England manager Sarina Wiegman reacts to defeat against Spain at the Women’s World Cup final in 2023. Pic: Reuters
Lauren James looks dejected after their World Cup defeat, but is confirmed fit for Sunday’s revenge match against Spain. Pic: Reuters
Now, in Basel, comes the chance for revenge against Spain – even though no one in the England camp is saying that, publicly at least, in Switzerland.
Especially knowing how challenging a task it is coming up again against Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putella – the recent winners of football’s biggest individual honours.
England fans celebrating after England beat Italy to reach the finals. Pic: Reuters
Given England’s history against Spain, it could be a nerve-wracking time for England fans. File pic: Action Images/Reuters
But this is Spain’s first Euros final.
And there is some fear from the world champions at England’s grit and resolve to produce comebacks late in the quarter-finals and semi-finals – with 19-year-old Michelle Agyemang’s goals integral to the fightbacks.
England celebrate their semi-final win against Italy to reach the finals. Pic: Reuters
Michelle Agyemang has propelled England to the Euro 2025 final with two vital goals. Pic: AP
Spain captain Irene Paredes reflected yesterday on how the Lionesses can flip a result late on.
But she was also discussing how their World Cup win was tarnished by the on-pitch kiss that led to former Spanish federation president Luis Rubiales being convicted of a sexual assault on striker Jenni Hermoso.
It sparked a wider clamour in Spain for improved rights and respect for women.
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“Since then [2023] we took big steps forward,” Paredes said.
“I think this idea is disappearing from society. I still believe we have to continue opening doors… we’re a reference for boys and girls in society, but we still have things to do.”
It is a reminder that while tonight is about collecting silverware, both England and Spain know that emerging as champions can drive further growth in women’s football back home.
Amid it all, they’ll try to savour just what reaching a final means and how rare they are – until recently for English and Spanish women.
A woman who thought she was being injected with Botox was left unable to swallow and doctors thought she had suffered a stroke – after she contracted a life-threatening illness from a potentially illegal product.
Nicola Fairley is one of dozens of people who have developed botulism linked to unlicensed anti-wrinkle injections.
She had the procedure done with her regular beautician after winning a Facebook competition for three areas of “Botox”.
Nicola Fairley
“Within two or three hours my forehead and the sides of my eyes had started to freeze,” Nicola says.
“At first I thought ‘amazing’, that’s what I wanted – then it just carried on.”
Nicola was eventually sent to A&E in Durham, where she met several other patients who all had similar symptoms.
Doctors were stumped. “They thought I’d had a stroke,” she says.
“We all had problems with our eyes, some of us with our breathing. I couldn’t swallow – they put me on nil by mouth because they were worried I would choke in the waiting room.”
Doctors were worried Nicola could choke after she was injected with a suspected illegal product
It turns out all of the patients had recently had anti-wrinkle injections containing botulinum toxin.
Health officials believe they were imported, illegal products.
Botulism – the disease they caused – is so rare many doctors never see it in their entire careers.
It can cause symptoms including slurred speech and breathing problems, and can be deadly.
The disease is so unusual, and so many cases were coming in, that doctors exhausted their stocks of anti-toxin and had to ask hospitals as far away as London to get more.
The UK Health Security Agency has so far confirmed 38 cases of botulism linked to cosmetic toxin injections, but Sky News has been told of several more.
The outbreak began in the North East but cases have now been seen in the East of England and East Midlands as well.
There are only a handful of legal botulinum toxin products in the UK – of which Botox is one.
But cosmetic treatments are largely unregulated, with anyone allowed to inject products like fillers and toxins without any medical training.
Cheap, illegal products imported from overseas are easily available.
Dr Steven Land
‘It’s the Wild West’
Dr Steven Land runs Novellus Aesthetics clinic in Newcastle upon Tyne. He worked for decades as an emergency medicine doctor before moving into aesthetics.
He says he has been warning health officials of an outbreak for years.
“It’s the Wild West,” Dr Land told Sky News.
“Because anyone can do this, there is a lack of knowledge around what is legal, what’s not legal, what is okay to be injected.
“These illegal toxins could have 50 units, 5,000 units or rat poison – there could be anything in there.”
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Dr Land showed us messages that he says he gets on a weekly basis, from sellers trying to push him cheap, unlicensed products.
They advertise “limited time offers” and cheap bundles on toxins imported from overseas. He calls them “drug dealers”.
“They are preying on the lack of knowledge among non-medical practitioners,” he says.
Consultations on how to regulate the aesthetics industry have been ongoing for years – but so far, no changes have been introduced.
The UK government now says it does plan to regulate certain procedures, but it’s not said how it will do this, or when.
“What will it take?” Nicola says. “One of the women we were with did almost die – she had to be resuscitated.”
Nicola’s beautician has stopped responding to her messages, so she says she still has no idea what the product was “or how much of it is in me”.
She doesn’t know how long her symptoms will last, but just hopes she will eventually recover.
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