Emma van der Walt: South Africans in dramatic escape from cryptocurrency scam compound

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.”.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.Watch here.Listen here.Edited transcript of the interview.Chris Steyn (00:01.994)41 South African men and women were among 1,000 human trafficking victims who made a dramatic escape in Southeast Asia. We speak to Emma van der Walt of Brave to Love, the NGO that is working to bring them home. Welcome, Emma.Emma Van Der Walt (00:23.32)Good morning. Thank you for hosting us. And it's an important topic this morning.Chris Steyn (00:28.692)Firstly, how were they lured out of South Africa?Emma Van Der Walt (00:34.382)Yes, so the first 23 we repatriated in February, some of them being already there for about six months, some a year. So we think around 2022, they started luring South Africans. They have these scamming compounds have lured other nationalities, but South Africa was targeted around that time. Firstly, starting with Facebook adverts saying that you can have a job in online marketing for 15,000 a month, flights are paid, accommodation is paid, so it looked like a lucrative opportunity for someone, the youth of South Africa between 18 and 35 that are looking for job opportunities. They know South Africa unemployed youth are quite high, so it looked like an opportunity. So that's how it started. Then later on went over to word of mouth, physical recruiters working from South Africa and also maybe our neighbouring countries being involved in recruiting people which was a problem.Chris Steyn (01:35.626)So what happened when they got the first to Thailand?Emma Van Der Walt (01:41.132)Yes, correct. So firstly, would they do an interview online with the recruiter or the HR department? We know it's the China Mafia groups operating these scamming compounds. They were approved and then the flight was booked for them landing, you know, overstop flight and then landing in Bangkok airport being picked up by usually a female with their names on, don’t need work permits. The company actually promised them that the work permits will be done while they arrive. They must just get there as soon as possible. And actually when they land…, they travel for eight hours to an hotel… And then the smugglers actually pick them up with guns, with AK-47 guns. So it's quite intimidating; proof of life photos are being taken from them and then they smuggled over the river. From that point they changed cars four to five times and they end up then in a scamming compound. It's called the KK Park scamming compound in Myanmar. About 7,000 people in this one compound but the South Africans were specifically in KK 1 and 2. So only for a company. So we estimate about 200 South Africans or probably more that have returned; some of them have returned through the immigration systems and being in prison, things like that. But that was the estimate amount of people, yeah, into the compound.Chris Steyn (03:11.86)So how were this escape staged?Emma Van Der Walt (03:17.39)So in February, the first victims escaped. They were interviewed to say, are they scammers or are they victims of human trafficking? Because some of might be there to profit out of crime. So then 23 said, we want to get home. We never signed up for this. But the others were quite scared. The South Africans were very scare because it's very intimidating process, psychological control,fear that these criminals actually force these people with. But then since then we've actually been working closely with the South Africans, trying to get contact with them inside of the compound because their phones are regulated quite strictly. And we managed to actually repatriate quite a few since then. But what happened now, recently this week that passed, that a group of South Africans, we were still in communication with four men that were on the inside and they actually, I've been speaking to them because they were hiding a phone for us to have contact with them and they managed to actually break out of the compound with a group of…So they actually started a prayer group just praying together in front of the gates of the KK Park. And as that prayer group just started growing with a thousand people just joining and they managed to override the military that were guarding the gates. We are still waiting for the information to reach us to exactly how that happened and what happened but they managed to then get the gates open and thousands of people just left the compound which we were so grateful for. So the NGOs on that side have been assisting and trying to repatriate - but it's chaos at the moment with some of our South Africans being held victim, are well being held hostage by corrupt military officials wanting ransom.Yeah, so it's a bit chaos at the moment, but we know that our South Africans that have made contact with us are safe and secure at this point.Chris Steyn (05:17.29)Those being held hostage, are they still being kept captive? They have not been released.Emma Van Der Walt (05:23.178)I know. The group, were quite a few groups. It's very tense. The atmosphere is very tense at the moment. Thailand has opened their borders, allowing 100 people per day to cross. We hope that they keep that longer so that we can safely repatriate all these groups of people into Thailand and back to South Africa. So the hostage situation, where a group of 14 that were held hostage by by in a property very hidden and at gunpoint. But they managed to get the money to actually pay the ransom. Then they managed to get out and free and the NGOs were able to pick them up. So yeah, it's quite a scary, some of them had to walk by foot just to get to the border by the bridges to cross into Thailand for safety and security.Chris Steyn (06:19.274)So you say the situation on the ground is chaotic now?Emma Van Der Walt (06:24.236)Yes, there are quite large groups of Kenyans and other nationalities of people from the Philippines, very large group of different nationalities that actually just said we want the escape, we want to get free from this compound. So the NGOs are working tirelessly. Myanmar immigration is involved, Myanmar police is involved, Thailand law enforcement is involved.Yeah, we are calling on DIRCO to have an urgent response. There's still lack of communication from their side. The victims have emailed them to help them with repatriation, but there's not much response from them at the moment. We are asking them to help with the repatriation of the 41 to help them safely back home, which we think is a high priority crime and quite urgent. We have three of the victims that are actually in prison … for overstaying the visas. They are victims of trafficking, but these mafia groups work with the military in Myanmar and has actually given them over to the corrupt officials. And they are imprisoned now in Thailand and we're trying to get them out as soon as possible for overstaying the visa. I mean, they overstayed the visa because they couldn't, they were in captivity. So we need to get them safe as well.Chris Steyn (07:49.406)What response have you personally had from DIRCO?Emma Van Der Walt (07:53.625)So I know there was meetings yesterday with the Hawks and DIRCO. DIRCO s not really replying much. One of the victims told me that they had a reply from DIRCO saying that we apologise for your situation. We can't really help. These are our partners that we can send you to. But the South African Embassy Thailand, some of the officials are assisting and helping, which we are grateful.But the last few repatriations, DIRCO has just said they are not funding any more repatriations, meaning the NGOs had to step in to even help with the bus fees … to Bangkok. We are trying to raise funds for the airplane tickets because the 41 is a large group of South Africans that need to come home and most of them come out of poverty areas that the families cannot afford a flight ticket. That's why these criminals are targeting these groups because they know they can't afford a flight ticket to get to Thailand or Myanmar so they will not be able to get back and they use debt control and financial control to keep them in the slave-like situations.Chris Steyn (09:04.202)You've been in touch with 41 families, they must be frantic.Emma Van Der Walt (09:09.022)Yes, some of the families have made contact, not all of them. I think some of the families are not even aware of really what's happening because the victims are too scared to tell them what's been happening. But we are trying to bring the preventative work. We are grateful that they have actually stopped recruiting from South Africa, we believe. But unfortunately, we know some of the South Africans are then being lured to Cambodia. And Cambodia is a really dark place to find yourself in a scamming compound.So we are bringing a lot of attention for the Africans to not go to Cambodia, not be recruited to Cambodia, because you're going to find yourself in a slavery situation. So it's very cautious time to not look into employment into Southeast Asia. It's really a high risk situation for human trafficking.Chris Steyn (09:56.533)What is the biggest red flags in a recruitment drive for South Africans, many of whom are so desperate for work?Emma Van Der Walt (10:04.622)Yeah, correctly. So when we look at the Human Traffic Act, we look at vulnerabilities. What are the vulnerabilities within South Africans that are, are they vulnerable to be recruited in these areas? It's firstly, definitely unemployment, economic instability, you know, families hope. Three of the victims that I've been speaking to said they've applied three years to get into law enforcement, into SAPS, couldn't get in. And they, and I mean, these young men have so much potential, well spoken, educated, but the opportunities are just not here for them. And we've been working with a programme … from Brave to Love just to try encourage entrepreneurship within these survivors, to help them start up their own businesses, to help the economy in South Africa rise and find ways. But it's difficult. It's not an easy climate. The political climate is also this tension. There’s a lot of areas that are playing a role which makes our people vulnerable. And the sad thing is, although we've been coming strong as NGOs and fighting for our people to get them back, which helped stop the recruitment from South Africa, but now they are targeting Zambia and Malawi and Ethiopia and some of the other even more vulnerable countries within Africa. And a lot of these countries don't have the ability and the structures to actually fight this crime within, for their people.Chris Steyn (11:31.816)What happens to them in those compounds? What are their daily lives like?Emma Van Der Walt (11:37.944)So they work very long hours. So when you get there, you start going through training, but you get minimum pay, minimum pay, pay that you won't be able even to send home to your families to help. And a lot of them are trying to help their families back home. So when they are recruited, they are trained into online scamming. So firstly, they have a script that they need to practice. They go on dating sites, social media. They create a virtual character of a female because they are targeting the USA and UK and also other Europe countries because they're looking for where there's money. And then they try romance and these type of scams on dating sites. Usually a blonde female, so there's a profile for the scammer. She must be intelligent, she must know how to work with cryptocurrencies, she must be credible.So then they start engaging with certain men and certain individuals, sometimes even females that are old ladies that have been scammed out of their pensions. And then they get them to invest into cryptocurrency or certain products online as a business investment. And they build the trust, and they've actually got sheets that they build the trust with these females, who are these males or females or the victims on the other side, not the traffic victim, but actually the victim that is being scammed.And then these people start investing and once they're investing they lose all their money because it's fake cryptocurrency sites and…yeah, so it's definitely I believe a weapon of war that is targeting specific groups of financial war I think our war weapons of war has changed and it's definitely a financial tactic that they are using.Chris Steyn (13:21.214)What do you need as an NGO right now?Emma Van Der Walt (13:25.134)So this, yeah, correct. Thank you, Chris. At this point, emergency is our emergency fund that we are raising funds now for repatriation because we are asking DIRCO to assist but the last communication from them as we've been repatriating victims saying that they're not even funding the bus tickets. So, which is not a large amount, it's about 1,200 or 600 rand per person. But...but we need the funding to actually help the repatriation process and also the aftercare ones. We support the victims when they land in South Africa. We've helped them with a little bit of grocery money, not much, but we need the funding to actually just secure them because they've already been traumatised. We're supporting with psychological intervention. A lot of females are really traumatised. I mean, you've been living in a year or longer in a scamming compound, locked up in a small area, you know, bunker beds, working 18 hours a day, being threatened, you know, manipulation, being threatened that you will be imprisoned. And some, there's definitely physical assault. Some of the victims were physically assaulted in a very bad way. Yeah, and even sexual assault has taken place in these compounds. It was really traumatic. So we need the support for a lot of these victims and help them just pick up their lives back in South Africa.A lot of shame that goes with this. Did I, why was I so stupid to end up in a situation like that? What was, you know, so it's a really complex process that we need to assist the victims.Chris Steyn (15:02.088)Wha other Work is Brave to love involved in?Emma Van Der Walt (15:06.348)Yeah, thank you Chris. So as an NGO, we've started about 10 years ago, just working with the commercial sex trade because we know that the larger amount of people were trafficked into prostitution, the system of prostitution. So we've been just targeting, bringing support and humanitarian relief in these areas because we know that the system is quite abusive and harmful for any women to find herself in. And we started with that. So I've actually published a book called She Is Safe which you can find in any bookstore, which actually just tells the story of a lot of these victims that were in South Africa and got trafficked. So we do that and then we work very closely with law enforcement to fight justice and to make sure that the predators actually land up in prison, that there's justice for the survivor that takes place and that we can stop the cycle. But we can't do it together only on our own as an NGO. We need the partners, we need the public, everyone to work together.We do lot of skills development training for the survivors, aftercare programs, and then advocacy with the media, with the publishing of our book and things like that to make sure that the public knows what is going on and what needs to take place.Chris Steyn (16:20.82)Thank you. That was Emma van der Walt of the NGO Brave to Love, working to bring human trafficking victims home. I'm Chris Steyn. Thank you.

Emma van der Walt: South Africans in dramatic escape from cryptocurrency scam compound

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