"Tracking The Traffickers" with Foeke Postma

About this episode

Foeke Postma discusses the online trade of rare and protected species and the use of social media by traffickers.

This week we spoke with Foeke Postma of Bellingcat about the online trade of rare and protected species. He found traffickers not operating on the dark web, nor hidden forums but in plain sight- on social media platforms. Many of them used coded language to avoid detection. In this talk he discusses his investigative methods, what platforms could do more of to stop these networks and how you can help protect these vulnerable animals in small ways. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on April 2nd 2026. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist. Recorded live in our Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat Links: Foeke's investigations on this topic: Indonesian trafficker: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2026/03/19/how-wildlife-traffickers-are-using-coded-language-to-sell-protected-animals-on-facebook/ Mongabay's coverage: https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/facebook-shuts-indonesia-groups-after-mongabay-and-bellingcat-report-illegal-wildlife-trade/ Malaysian trafficker: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/02/11/the-hunt-for-malaysias-elusive-wildlife-trafficker/ Dubai trade…

People in this episode

Host: Charlotte Maher

Guest: Foeke Postma

Topics covered

• wildlife trafficking
• social media
• investigative methods
• animal protection
• coded language

Keywords

• wildlife trafficking
• social media
• Bellingcat
• investigation
• animal protection

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Bellingcat, Mongabay

Places: Indonesia, Malaysia, Dubai

More episodes of Stage Talks with Bellingcat

• "Reporting On Hidden Networks Of Online Abuse" with CNN · June 12, 2026 · 1h 1m
• "Monitoring Violence In Myanmar" with Bellingcat's Pooja Chaudhuri · May 29, 2026 · 59 min
• "Tracing Deportation Flights" with Gillian Brockell · May 15, 2026 · 55 min
• "Navigating Chinese Social Media For Research" with Chu Yang · May 1, 2026 · 59 min
• "Synthetic Propaganda - Tracing an AI-Driven Political Operation" with Effie Webb · April 17, 2026 · 1h 1m
• "Identifying Munitions In The War With Iran"- with Bellingcat Researcher Trevor Ball · March 13, 2026 · 59 min