41 South African men and women were among about 1,000 human trafficking victims who made a dramatic escape in Southeast Asia the past week. In this interview with BizNews, Emma van der Walt, the Founder of Brave to Love, the Counter Trafficking NGO that is working to bring them home, tells Chris Steyn how they were lured to Thailand with false job promises, forcibly transported across the border into Myanmar, and held inside the KK Park scamming compound where they were trained to conduct online romance, cryptocurrency and investment scams. “…And then people start investing and once they're investing they lose all their money because it's fake cryptocurrency sites and…it is definitely, I believe a weapon of war that is targeting specific groups for financial war…” Van der Walt says some of the victims were badly assaulted, while some were even raped. Following their escape, one group of South Africans was also held hostage by corrupt military officials - and three other victims are in prison for overstaying the visas. “They are victims of trafficking, but these mafia groups work with the military in Myanmar and have actually given them over to the corrupt officials.”

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