We are so excited to be part of the 2023 Big Give Christmas Challenge that means any donation we receive this week (between 28th November and 5th December) is DOUBLED at no extra cost to the donor! 

Donations from our generous supporters make a huge difference to the work we can do to stop modern slavery and human trafficking around the world. 

We are seeing cases of stories that didn't happen - people who were not trafficked because they engaged in our programs. We journey alongside someone who is at high risk of exploitation providing them with bespoke safety information and practical options to reduce their vulnerability. 

Here's a glimpse of how your donation can contribute to our mission: 

Every single donation, large or small, makes a huge difference. If you choose to give this week, your donation will be doubled at no extra cost to you, meaning your generosity has twice the impact in our fight to create a world where no person is bought and sold. 

As an example of the work your donation could fund, you can read Bale’s* true story below. We were able to help Bale* but we want to create a world where his exploitation was prevented right from the start, and he never had to endure this suffering: 


Bale’s* Story 
 

Bale is a 27-year-old man who was born and living in a small town in Uganda. There were limited work opportunities, and one day Bale saw a job advertisement on a reputable recruitment site for a role in Online Sales based in Thailand. The role was offering an extremely good wage, as well as an offer to cover expenses for employees to travel to Thailand. Bale applied by following a link from the reputable site to another website. 

Bale got the job and travelled to Thailand. However, when he landed, he was immediately forced to travel with his ‘employers’ (traffickers) to a border town in Myanmar. He was taken to a forced scamming centre where he was kept with around 100 other victims. 

Bale was forced to scam people in Western countries through romance scams, using a fake profile on dating sites to form relationships with scam victims and encourage them to invest in cryptocurrency through a fake website. 

Bale was forced to carry out this scamming by his traffickers who used threats, psychological intimidation and physical force and abuse.  

Bale was able to contact us directly at STOP THE TRAFFIK, covertly using his phone after working hours.  

Our approach was two fold: 

• We worked to secure Bale's release, through sharing the details of the call centre and the case with law enforcement agencies including Interpol and with local NGOs in Thailand and Myanmar. We have successfully co-ordinated the release of 3 victims and we are supporting the ongoing effort to release all the victims in this compound.  

• We gathered intelligence and worked with a cyber intelligence firm to find out more about the criminal network, writing and sharing reports to send to banks, law enforcement, and businesses for follow up, including bank account info of the perpetrators, IP address of the scam centre, internet domain names and email addresses associated with the various identified scam sites, recruitment companies and other stakeholders, all with the aim of disrupting the criminal network. 

We are relieved that we were able to help to rescue Bale, but we want to create a world where this exploitation could have been prevented, so that Bale never had to endure this trauma.  
 

*This is a true story with the name and some small details changed for anonymity.