GETTY Europol has warned more than 17,000 new migrant smugglers are using Facebook to recruit migrants

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Europol revealed up to 17,400 new migrant smugglers use Facebook to advertise “attractive and unrealistic offers” including fake passports, work permits, sham marriages and sea crossings. A report from the crime-fighting agency’s European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC) also uncovered that a shocking nine out of ten migrants reaching Europe have used paid gangs.

GETTY Crossing the Mediterranean is still the key route for migrant smuglers

While just 148 Facebook accounts attempting to recruit migrants were detected in 2015, this year’s investigation has uncovered a jaw-dropping 1,150 users in 2016. The startling paper also repeated warnings that gangs of ISIS jihadis could be lurking in the EU’s borderless Schengen zone undetected. The dossier said: “Various social media platforms are increasingly used and abused by criminal groups almost without impunity, to openly advertise smuggling services.

Various social media platforms are increasingly used and abused by criminal groups almost without impunity EMSC report

“The majority of smuggling services advertised come under several key categories, with transportation into Europe and false documentation topping the list. “Nevertheless, the variety of these services has greatly expanded and nowadays includes offers that suggest criminal groups are also attempting to corrupt embassy and consular officials from European embassies located mostly outside the EU.”

GETTY Some smugglers offer up to £3,000 to traffick migrants into the EU

The agency’s British boss, Rob Wainwright, said: “Over 90 per cent of all migrants that reach the EU have used the facilitation services of a migrant smuggling network. “These crime networks are taking mass profits from mass migration.”

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The industry is worth an eye-watering £3billion, according to Mr Wainwright. The trend of using social media to lure migrants into trafficking routes is not new.