Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme risks operating as ‘Tinder for sex traffickers’, say charities

UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme risks operating as ‘Tinder for sex traffickers’, say charities

Michael Gove warned that his housing project has insufficient safeguards for those seeking sanctuary

Michael Gove’s Homes for Ukraine scheme risks operating as “Tinder for sex traffickers” according to experts. The warning comes as evidence emerges that UK-based criminals are targeting women and children fleeing the war.

A letter from 16 refugee and anti-trafficking organisations to communities secretary Gove warns that the scheme in its present form is potentially dangerous for refugees who have fled Ukraine.

It says the initiative, which allows would-be hosts to be matched with Ukrainians seeking sanctuary in the UK, effectively mimics the dating app Tinder’s signature “swipe left, swipe right” approach to rejecting or selecting a partner, and has insufficient safeguards.

Initial evidence from the letter’s signatories, which include Refugee Action, Refugee Council and the Helen Bamber Foundation, said traffickers had already made apparent attempts to target Ukrainian women and children, as had slum landlords.

Louise Calvey, head of safeguarding at charity Refugee Action, said she was aware of a UK resident wanting to offer accommodation only to an orphan, while another had asked to house a single Ukrainian woman because they wanted help with their childcare. Launched just over a week ago, Gove’s scheme prompted a huge response, with about 150,000 offers of support.

However the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has not said how many people have arrived in the UK under the scheme, saying it would “set out full details of the [number of] visas granted” this week.

Ukrainian refugees in the railway station in Przemysl, south-eastern Poland.


Some families who have applied to be sponsors have complained that the system is too complicated. Calvey said: “We are concerned that issues with the scheme means that it risks being a Tinder for sex traffickers. We are already aware of people with illegal motives who are advertising on social media.”

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: “We’ve had concerns from people in the Ukrainian community about dubious Facebook pages and other websites offering a matching service that looks like it might be run by people with an ulterior motive like trafficking, exploitation or unscrupulous landlords.”

The letter, sent to Gove on Saturday, says: “By adopting a hands-off approach to matching, there is a high risk that traffickers, criminals and unscrupulous landlords set up matching sites and Facebook pages to prey upon the vulnerable.”

Calvey also called for police to be brought in to regulate the scheme and target individuals and organised crime gangs seeking to prey on Ukrainian refugees.

The National Crime Agency (NCA), which investigates trafficking, confirmed that it had not been asked by the government to regulate the scheme. Although Gove said initially that hosts would undergo “very light touch” criminal records checks, in fact all will be required to have undergone Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. Yegor Lanovenko, who runs an organisation called Opora, which has drawn up a database for Ukrainians to view sponsors and has recorded 400,000 profile views in a week, said that criminals had also targeted UK residents who wanted to offer Ukrainians a home.

“Everyone just went on Facebook, and posted their passports, houses, addresses with the obvious risks that creates and we’ve seen so many people saying: ‘I just posted on Facebook, now I’ve been scammed five times.’ Who thought that that was going to be a good idea?,” added Lanovenko

Already reports from Poland indicate that women and child refugees who have just fled Ukraine are being targeted by pimps and sex traffickers operating alone and in gangs, according to charities working on the border.

The letter from the 16 organisations “with substantive experience leading resettlement programmes, delivering hosting schemes, supporting refugees and in anti-trafficking” also warns that the scheme is storing up a housing crisis for the autumn: “We are concerned that this scheme, as currently structured, bakes in a refugee housing and support crisis for the autumn. With hosts only having a duty to accommodate refugees for six months, a heavy burden will be placed on local authorities to pick up the pieces if new housing is required.”

The organisations, which also include the No Accommodation Network and Ecpat UK, say that 11,000 Afghans are stranded in hotels months after the fall of Kabul.

A spokesman for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities said: “No visa is issued by the Home Office until checks have been completed on the Ukrainian applicant as well as on every adult in a sponsor’s household. Local authorities will then run DBS checks on sponsors, with enhanced DBS with barred list checks for those housing families with children or vulnerable adults.

“Under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, Ukrainians will be guaranteed free access to NHS healthcare, including mental health care. They will also be able to work and receive benefits. The Government has also ensured that local authorities have appropriate levels of funding to support new arrivals.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×