'Beauty Scheme' in Human Trafficking to Cambodia
The group of people in the human trafficking ring used "beauty traps" to lure and take victims to Cambodia, forcing them to commit illegal activities and torturing them if they resisted.
Human traffickers often use sophisticated tricks to lure their prey. The promise of "easy work, high salary" is used as a drug to attract inexperienced young people who are struggling to find employment.
Not only stopping at sweet words, the subjects also use "beauty trap". Beautiful young girls are planted in groups and social networking sites to approach and seduce potential victims. With beautiful looks and sweet voices, these girls easily win the trust of gullible people.
Typical examples are Bui Thi Tam Tuyen (born 1995) and Huynh Thi Hoang Quyen (born 1998) - two subjects in a human trafficking ring to Cambodia that was recently busted by Ho Chi Minh City Police.
Tuyền and Quyên are beautiful girls, important links in the search, lure, and bring Vietnamese workers to Cambodia to work. In fact, these are fraudulent companies led by Chinese people.
The victims were smuggled to Cambodia through Moc Bai border gate (Tay Ninh) by illegal means. Here, they were detained, closely monitored, and forced to meet sales targets. If they failed, their wages would be deducted, and they were even beaten and tortured.
"In case an employee wants to leave before the end of the contract, they will have to give money to the company. If they don't have money, the employee must call a relative to send money to ransom them," Tuyen said.
Caught pretending to be a young girl to scam
Nguyen Van Q., a 16-year-old boy from Bac Giang, was one of the victims of a transnational human trafficking ring. He was tricked and sold to Cambodia with the promise of a high-paying job. However, upon arrival, Q. was forced to join an online fraud ring.
Q.'s job was to impersonate young girls and use social networks to get acquainted with Vietnamese men. He then had to lure them into investing money in virtual projects, promising huge profits. When the victims transferred money to the designated account, it would disappear without a trace.
Q. refused to participate in this illegal activity and expressed his wish to return to Vietnam. However, the traffickers did not agree and demanded that the boy's family pay a ransom of 200 million VND.
Q.’s family went through days of extreme suffering and anxiety. They tried to raise money to ransom their son back. However, the amount they managed to raise was not enough to meet the demands of the traffickers.
During that time, Q. was beaten, tortured, and forced to call his family to ask for money. The traffickers even electrocuted the boy to force his family to quickly transfer the money.
After several transfers, Q.'s family paid a total of 176 million VND to the traffickers. Q. was then released back to Vietnam.
If you can't fool anyone, you will be electrocuted.
Rescued by Dong Thap Provincial Police from Cambodia back to Vietnam, Mr. THH recounted his terrifying journey.
An acquaintance introduced him to a job at a casino in Cambodia with a salary of 1,000 USD/month, a job described as "easy, no skills or qualifications required". However, when he arrived in Cambodia, Mr. H. realized he had fallen into a trap. He was imprisoned, tortured, and forced to contact his family to pay ransom.
"The manager spoke Chinese. They made us pretend to be successful people or women looking for a lover, then go online to find someone to chat with and find ways to trick the victims out of money," H. recounted.
Fraudsters use many sophisticated tricks such as asking victims to make purchases on e-commerce platforms, invest in stocks, and virtual currencies. After defrauding them of money, they continue to entice victims to use "money back" services to defraud them a second time.
Not only Mr. H., many victims also suffered brutal punishments. NTH, another victim, said he was tortured and beaten for more than a year since being tricked into going to Cambodia.
"They forced me to cheat. If I couldn't cheat anyone, they would hit me on the head with a stick, kick me, and electrocute me for half an hour. They beat me right in front of other victims. If anyone wanted to go home, they had to call their family to pay a ransom of hundreds of millions of dong. But even if they paid, they would still be sold to another human trafficking group," H. said.
The casino where the victims were held was heavily guarded, with no escape possible. Many Vietnamese victims witnessed their former captors being brutally beaten, and did not dare to fight back.
"Because I couldn't scam, I was beaten every day. I thought I would never be able to return home. Luckily, the police rescued me," VDT (another victim) said with tears in his eyes.
The promises of "easy work, high salary" abroad are dangerous traps, pushing many Vietnamese youth into a spiral of fraud in Cambodia. The tragedy of the victims is a wake-up call for those who are cherishing the dream of changing their lives in a foreign land.
