Gangs turn to social media for luring women into sex trade
The latest recruiting ground for drawing young victims into forced prostitution is online, and authorities are struggling to keep up
Last year, a Chinese Malay man known as “Alex Gecko” was travelling in the northern provinces, buying geckos from locals. He claimed he could resell the lizards at high prices in Malaysia. Alex presented himself as a successful businessman, showing villagers his Facebook page loaded with images of what he said was his restaurant in Malaysia. The photos showed smiling customers and polite young waitresses; apparently, they were convincing.
Many of the locals gladly accepted Alex’s invitation to befriend him on Facebook, as he promised to keep them updated with news of his business and employment opportunities.
“The Facebook page looked credible. Mr Alex seemed to be a rich man and a nice person,” said Chaleerat Timbut, a programme coordinator at Alliance Anti-Trafic (AAT), a non-profit organisation working on human trafficking issues. Some of those who became friends with Alex were soon offered jobs at the restaurant and were asked to tag their friends who may also be interested in working abroad.
But Alex was interested only in employing teenage girls and the reason soon became clear: what awaited those who accepted his offer was not work, but sexual slavery.
SETTING THE TRAP
When one of the women who accepted Alex’s offer of a job in Malaysia fell out of contact with her friends and family, her older sister became worried. She contacted the Friends of Women Foundation, which, suspecting something sinister was at play, turned to AAT to help track the girl down.
“Her sister knew that something bad had happened, because normally her younger sister would contact her frequently,” Ms Chaleerat said.
“After we found her, we looked back through her social media activity and discovered pictures of female brokers posting fake advertisements about restaurants and bars to lure women to go and work with Alex.”
Ms Chaleerat soon found out that the trafficking ring was also under investigation by the Department of Special Investigation, which later asked AAT to share the information it had uncovered.
Some of these girls may look happy and free, but in reality they are closely monitored and forced to perform sex acts
CHALEERAT TIMBUT ALLIANCE ANTI-TRAFIC
Alex is now facing criminal charges in Malaysia and his Facebook page has been removed. But his operation is only one of many trafficking gangs employing similar tactics, exploiting the ease and anonymity of online communications to lure young Thai women into the sex industry.
“Human traffickers these days are changing their strategies to trick women into joining the sex trade,” Ms Chaleerat said. “International crime syndicates like this are using social media to lure young girls overseas.”
Phunyanuch Pattanotai, a communications officer at AAT, added, “The brokers pose as employees and leave comments on Facebook about how good their lives are. And they attract job-seekers through their online connections.”
DEEP IN DEBT
The syndicates usually begin by creating a Facebook page or online advertisement offering well-paid job opportunities abroad for young Thais. Local brokers become involved by sharing fake experiences and inviting young girls to tag their friends.
“This strategy makes it more difficult for authorities to catch the syndicates, because these girls appear willing to travel and work until they find out the truth when they get there,” Ms Phunyanuch said.
Once the victims arrive at their destination, the illusion is quickly shattered.
The promised jobs never materialise and the traffickers claim that the girls have to provide sexual services to clients to pay for their travel expenses. Later on, accommodation and clothing costs are added to the ballooning debt.
In some cases, the women are forced to undergo cosmetic surgery, and again must work to pay off the cost.
“The debts go on and on. It never ends. By the time we can rescue them, many of these girls are very ill because they were forced to sleep with many men each day,” Ms Chaleerat said.
The victims are both Thais and young women from neighbouring countries who have come to Thailand seeking work.
NO ESCAPE
Last year, AAT helped rescue 140 trafficking victims. Of that total, 23 were Thai nationals, while the rest were from neighbouring countries. Lao women accounted for the vast majority, with 102.
It was a slight decrease from the year before, when a total of 156 girls were rescued.
“The number has been declining partly because of government action. But the traffickers are also using new techniques to avoid detection, particularly social media,” Ms Chaleerat said.
She cited the case of a 20-year-old hill-tribe woman from the North who was lured into the sex industry in Bangkok. She later escaped to Pattaya, but the trafficking syndicate found her and took her back.
“You may think that these sex workers have to stay in a room without any communication. But that is not necessary.
‘‘The syndicate members didn’t need to lock her up because they knew they would be able to find her if she fled.
“The victim still had access to her Facebook page to communicate with her friends. But she was forced to have sex with many men by the traffickers who monitored her movements.”
The woman attempted to raise her case with authorities, but her pimp produced Facebook images of her going out with friends, which apparently satisfied any concerns about her well-being.
Shortly afterwards, the girl was seriously injured in a balcony fall. Her friends contacted AAT, appealing for the NGO to investigate the case.
Ms Chaleerat spoke to the woman in hospital. She told her that a man had been in her room trying to assault her in retaliation for going to the authorities and that she fell from the balcony in the ensuing struggle.
The woman died a short time later as a result of her injuries. Ms Chaleerat has not heard back from police after asking them to open an investigation.
“I went to her funeral,” Ms Chaleerat said. “Many girls showed up and wept.
“I want to tell men who pay for prostitution services that some of these girls may look happy and free, but in reality they are closely monitored and forced to perform sex acts by their pimp.”
RESCUE MISSION
While social media is being used to lure victims into the sex trade, it can also help to save them from the grip of traffickers.
Last year, AAT received information that three teenage girls had been coerced into a
prostitution ring being run from Thai restaurant in South Korea.
“We received the information through social media. One of the girls managed to send a Line message to her sister in Thailand saying she was being forced to sell her body in South Korea,” Ms Chaleerat said.
The 17-year-old victim from Lampang province was deceived by a broker, via one of her acquaintances, into working as a high-end bar hostess.
She had been told she would only be serving drinks. Two other girls from the same province were also drawn into the same trap.
South Korea is a common destination for sex trafficking victims because Thai passport holders do not require visas for visits of up to 90 days. This allows traffickers to easily lure young Thai women into prostitution and debt bondage there, according to Ms Phunyanuch.
Once she arrived, the girl from Lampang was separated from the other girls. The restaurant owner told her she would need to have sex with at least 70 customers to cover her travel expenses.
The victim was cut off from the outside world but managed to hide her mobile phone. As she was moved from one rented apartment room to another to service clients, she looked desperately for an opportunity to connect to a Korean mobile network so she could contact her sister.
It took several months but she was finally able to log in to her Line account and mark her GPS location.
Her sister sent this information to a local NGO called Foundation of Life Foundation. Finding itself out of its depth, the organisation contacted AAT, which was able to reach out to the girl directly through the Line messaging app.
After collecting enough evidence, AAT passed the case on to the Korea Women’s Migrants Human Right Centre, asking it to rescue the girl immediately.
“The victim told me through Line that you have to come here now. They are going to move us to another place soon. I sent a Line message back that we were on our way to help,” Ms Chaleerat recalled.
The GPS location enabled local authorities to take swift action. Two days later, Korean police launched a series of raids and managed to rescue all three Thai girls. They have since been repatriated to Thailand.