Channel migrants who describe their journey on social media receive their services through the approval of people who want to promote smugglers.
In exchange for placing images of their intersection on platforms such as Tiktok and Instagram, migrants can lower the costs to £ 2,000, a significant reduction in a trip that normally costs between £ 1,500 and £ 6,000.
Financial stimulation marks another exploitation layer by smugglers, who have already led more than 4,392 people from France to Kent on small and often dangerously packed boats so far this year.
The National Crime Agency has collaborated with social media companies to get video images of the crossings, with more than 8,000 last year only removed.
'Nearly 18,000 social media accounts, pages and messages have been removed by [social media] Companies since we started them with them in November 2021, “said Paul Brisley, a senior manager in threat leadership at the National Crime Agency.
'The advertisements show photos of migrants in a boat and use videos from the migrants themselves as an approval of the service.
'[The smugglers] Also offer discounts when migrants make a video of their journey, if it is successful that they can use to promote their service. '
Advertisements on social media have increasingly become central in the activities of smugglers and offer an important mechanism that attracts criminals.
A GB news research claimed that dozens of Albanian accounts brag on Tiktok on their ability to get men, women and children from France to Great Britain
Stills of images of migrants who cross the canal in a small boat. The journey was part of an operation run by Pistiwan Jameel, a railway worker who acted as a broker for smuggling gangs
Jameel was arrested after he had helped Albanian National Artan Halilaj, 40, to smuggle his brother -in -law Fiorentino Halilaj, 26, the country on a small boat in September 2023 in the country
In addition to stimuli that are offered for family groups, certain nationalities, women and children, their services include the range of fake paper work.
“The criminals offer migrant smuggling services, the delivery of false documents and fraudulent help with visa applications,” said Brisley.
Immigration experts have expressed their concern about the increasingly polished nature of the advertisements published by smugglers, which trivialize the dangerous nature of the crossings and put a honey -sweet shine in Great Britain.
The efforts of the National Crime Agency to thwart the social media activities of the criminals are welcomed by Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch UK.
“It is welcome news that there is a hard performance on social media channels,” he told the Telegraph. 'It is disturbing to hear that they offer discounts for video images. It shows that they are very entrepreneurial. This is a ruthless company that earns millions every year. '
The financial scale of smuggling activities was uncovered last month when a 'productive' human smuggler who hid in sight as a cleaning agent was imprisoned for the railway company after it arose that he had managed an illegal operation for 15 years.
Pistiwan Jameel, 55, acted as a broker for smuggling gangs in France and to be a 'familiar' fixer that made at least £ 1.6 million for his criminal network.
The transactions of Jameel as a underworld fixer for the international smuggling network saw him were imprisoned for four years and 10 months at Birmingham Crown Court after he had admitted two counts to facilitate illegal immigration.
Accounts on social media often contain photos of the UK, including orientation points such as Tower Bridge and the houses of parliament, to drum things. Here migrants greet a French boat for help
Earlier this month, a Palestinian migrant fleeing the Gaza torn by war shared images of his treacherous journey over the English canal and showed how he traveled with people on a rubber boat.
Abu Wadih al-Qassas had documented his escape from the deadly Israel-Hamas war on Tiktok, where some of his videos received up to 89,000 views.
One clip showed Al-Qassas, who has nearly 173,000 followers on the social platform, sitting on a full boat in the middle of the sea next to dozens of migrants, including women and children, most of whom wore orange.
The video was written: “Thank good we arrived in Great Britain after a long journey.”
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: 'We all want to put an end to dangerous small boat transitions that threaten lives and undermine our border protection.
'Smuggling the gangs of people does not matter whether the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay. We will stop nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to court. '
