Almost 900 customers in just four months, for a turnover of around 63 thousand euros. At the center of an alleged prostitution scheme was a girl aged just 15, forced to meet men in hotel rooms and rented apartments in the south of France. According to investigators, two people kept her under control with threats and violence, imposing on her an amount to earn every day and taking all the money paid by customers.
It happened on the Côte d’Azur, France, where a woman, the mother of the teenager, had filed a missing person’s report in May 2026. The woman had turned to the gendarmerie in Puget-sur-Argens, fearing that her daughter was being held prisoner in Marseille. The searches, conducted with the involvement of the Marseille police, made it possible to trace the fifteen-year-old a few days later: she had ended up in a network of exploiters.
The investigations made it possible to reconstruct the functioning of the organization. The alleged exploiters placed ads on the Internet to find clients, rented hotel rooms and apartments for meetings and monitored the girl to prevent her from escaping. Between February and May 2026, according to investigators’ estimates, the minor was forced to prostitute herself with almost 900 clients in various locations in the Var and the Maritime Alps. A number that equates, on average, to over seven customers per day over the four months between Toulon, Nice and Cannes. The total proceeds would have reached 63 thousand euros, entirely stolen from the victim.
The gendarmes – who had the young girl and her tormentors under surveillance – managed to keep the teenager safe, removing her from the control of the alleged exploiters who were then arrested on October 13th.
On 15 October both were brought before the Draguignan prosecutor’s office on charges of aggravated exploitation of child prostitution and human trafficking. For the adult suspect, the trial will open on December 11, 2026. The second suspect, a minor, will have to appear before the Draguignan juvenile court.