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ITV Report 25 November 2014 at 2:38pm European police said internet technology allowed the 'industrialisation' of people trafficking. Credit: DPA

People traffickers are exploiting social media and the internet to entrap and control victims, forcing them into prostitution and other criminal activity, the head of the European policing agency has warned.

Europol director Rob Wainwright said that advertisements on sites like Facebook promising work in childcare or cleaning were used by criminal gangs to draw in vulnerable young women.

The traffickers then used internet technology such as webcams to monitor their victims, controlling their movements ensuring they turned up to work in brothels or other criminal enterprises.

Speaking to the Centre for Social Justice think tank in London, Mr Wainwright said the use of modern technology had enabled the "industrialisation" of the traffickers' activities, allowing them to control many more problems.

"Facebook is effectively being used in many cases as the means to attract and then enslave vulnerable young women," he said.

"They (the traffickers) are using the modern technological tools to more efficiently monitor an increasing number of victims.

"So instead of paying them a visit every day they can use the webchat services but also webcam cameras to confirm that they are where they should be, they are in that brothel waiting for the next customer.

"In the past, the pimps and traffickers had to do that by physically visiting them.

"Now they can just do it at the click of a button and therefore control 50 victims much more easily and readily in virtual form.

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People traffickers 'controlling 50 victims at once using webcams'