The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) are reportedly using the WhatsApp and Telegram mobile apps to market trafficked girls who are abused by pedophile terrorists.

ISIS has kidnapped around 3,000 girls from the Yazidi and other religious minorities, and has been auctioning them at sex-slave markets in their strongholds. As many as eight different militants rape each captive girl.

(Reuters/Ako Rasheed/Stringer Iraq) Members of the minority Yazidi sect who were newly released hug each other on the outskirts of Kirkuk, Iraq, April 8, 2015.

However, there are also some ISIS militants who are apparently using encrypted mobile apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram to sell trafficked girls to pedophile terrorists, a Yazidi activist told The Associated Press (AP). The said activist shared a Telegram post with the AP showing a jihadi auctioning off a 12-year-old virgin with a starting price of US$12,500. AP notes that similar postings have been seen in WhatsApp and Facebook.

"Virgin. Beautiful. 12 years old," the post said. "Her price has reached $12,500 and she will be sold soon."

Another post on WhatsApp shows a photo a mother of a three-year-old and a seven-month-old baby. The caption says the woman wants her owner to sell her and her price is set at US$3,700.

Meanwhile, Telegram spokesman Markus Ra told AP that they routinely take down public channels that are being used by the terrorist group. He admitted that Telegram is quite popular with the marginal groups in the Middle East and other regions.

WhatsApp spokesperson Matt Steinfeld, on the other hand, told AP they have zero tolerance for those who use the app to sell people. He added that they disable accounts once they obtain evidence that a certain activity has violated their terms. Steinfeld also urged people to report people who exhibit this behavior on WhatsApp.

Many of the families of the captive girls pay smugglers to arrange for their rescue, according to German-Iraqi aid group Luftbrucke Irak founder Mirza Danai. However, she told AP that it has now become more difficult for the captured ISIS sex slaves to escape from their captors in the last few months.

Danai said ISIS now registers each slave under their owner. Because of this system, the terror group will be able to determine that a girl has escaped from her owner once she goes through their checkpoints.