Matt Parker

That woman I was describing, she was actually from Uganda.

Jeez.

And she was missing a tooth when I had met her.

And, you know, I had heard rumors of Ugandan women being trafficked into Bangkok and being

you know, I was deputized by the Tyrola police and I'll share a bit more about that too.

But in this case, I had sat down with her and she said she was from Tanzania.

Um, and I had talked with her about, you know, how long she'd been in the country and tried to understand her situation.

And, and eventually, um,

She says, Matt, I've been lying to you this whole time.

I'm from Uganda.

The reason I lied to you is that the syndicate who's controlling me will send men sometimes that look just like you to ask me the exact questions you're asking me.

Wow.

And I told the truth once before and they knocked my tooth out.

And so-

So much of the force, fraud and coercion that goes on with these vulnerable people, it's a mental game of violence.

It is.

And, you know, a lot of times when you think about human trafficking, like, oh, people are tied to a bed and there's ropes and chains involved.

And those are great images.

But the truth is you don't really need ropes and chains.

You just need to threaten a victim's sister or mom if they're noncompliant or the victim next to each other.