Cuckooing is a form of action, termed by the police, in which the home of a vulnerable person is taken over by a criminal in order to use it to deal, store or take drugs, facilitate sex work, as a place for them to live, or to financially abuse the tenant.
It is also known to occur as part of mate crime, the act of befriending a person with the intent of exploiting them.
[6][7] In this context, the term was mentioned in 1992 by Michael E. Buerger, was subsequently overlooked, and then regained wider use from 2010.
[6][2][8] Jess Phillips and Iain Duncan Smith are leading calls for cuckooing to be criminalised as part of a review of the 2015 Modern Slavery Act.
Phillips stated: "We must outlaw this exploitation of vulnerable people, threatened and manipulated by drug gangs who take over their home.