According to the Polish human rights group Homo Faber, "human traffickers are always the first on the scene of any conflict." Homo Faber is part of a wider group of organizations warning Ukrainian women and girls about the potential threat of men luring them into a trap with unrealistic promises.

"The last few days, there have been reports about men hanging around bus stations or railway stations," says Anna Dabrowska, who works for Homo Faber.

At the group's HQ in the basement of east Poland's Lublin cultural center, Dabrowska shares with CGTN some of the calls they have received on their 24-hour emergency hotline.

READ MORE:

What are hypersonic missiles?

The Premier League's only Chinese chairman

Can you measure intelligence?

"A woman (Ukrainian refugee) called our info line saying she had just arrived in Lublin and been offered a job by a man. We told her not to take the job. Then we got another similar call, and another." Dabrowska explains that these men and women offer lucrative jobs and homes to newly-arrived refugees; "all you have to do is get into the car with them."

Earlier in March, a 19-year-old Ukrainian girl was lured to the house of a man she did not know. They had met online and she had nowhere else to go in Poland, so she accepted his offer. When she arrived, he raped her. He was later arrested by Polish police. Sadly her case is not unique.

Another man was detained at the Medyka border crossing after he was overheard promising work and a room to a 16-year-old girl. More than 3.6 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine. More than 2.2 million have escaped through Poland.

The United Nations warns of the heightened risks to women and children of human trafficking and exploitation caused by the rapid mass displacement of people. Police are keeping a watchful eye. Checkpoints have been set up in both Romania and Poland to stop and search suspicious vehicles and people around border crossings.

The main train stations also have security in place. With the rush to help the millions fleeing Ukraine, people from all over the world have stepped in to help in any way they can.

Men walk through the loitering crowds, holding up signs of free transportation, while handwritten papers stuck to the wall offer free accommodation in different EU cities – a potentially attractive offer to those in a foreign country with little more than their children.

But not all these offers are well-intentioned, says Olena, who fled the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with her teenage daughter, Anastasia.

"Be careful and take care of yourself," she warns others. "Do not ask strangers because if they offer something, especially for free, it can be really dangerous." 

Her daughter agreed. "We were lucky, we didn't experience anything bad – but we really heard a lot of stories about it. That's why we asked proven people and volunteers whom we could trust."

Warnings about the potential risks of strangers have been sent out across all social media platforms, and signs hang from the walls around refugee reception and accommodation centers in many EU counties.

Homo Faber's Dąbrowska warns that the number of women calling their infoline reporting human trafficking is increasing. "We need to help them," she says. 

"Many of these people have trauma, they are in a crisis, some are in a country they've never been before. It is stressful and impossible to care about themselves."

Continued advocacy work and staying active on the issue is crucial, she says.