EARN $2,500 a month working as masseuses in Singapore. This was the enticing offer made to two Chinese nationals.

The money would be worth a fortune to the women who earn only about 1,000 yuan ($200) a month in China.

So they paid a middleman to arrange for them to come here to work.

Ms Li, 29, and Ms Wang, 44, both from Henan province, told The New Paper that they each paid a middleman in China 45,000 yuan to come to Singapore.

They met each other through a common friend.

WORK PERMIT INCLUDED

Said Ms Li: 'We were told that the fee included getting us a work permit so that we can find a job here.'

Ms Li, who has a 4-year-old son, was working as a masseuse in China.

Ms Wang, who was recently retrenched as a quality control officer, has a 20-year-old son.

The two women, whose husbands are labourers, arrived in Singapore around 1am on 30 Jan.

Said Ms Wang: 'A man picked us up from the airport and took us to a three-storey house in Geylang.

'He told us to stay there and left.'

She said there were at least 20 other women from various parts of China living there.

The rooms were partitioned, with five to six tenants living in each room.

Both women were suspicious as they had earlier been told that they would be staying at the massage parlour.

'We called the middleman to check and he said he would arrange for us to start work the next morning,' said Ms Li.

'He then hung up hurriedly.'

They struck up a conversation with the landlord and showed her their travel documents.

That was when they got their first shock.

'We were told that we were holding social visit passes instead of the promised work permits,' said Ms Wang.

'The documents were in English, which we do not understand. The landlord then said that we had been duped.'

Their social visit passes are valid until 2 Mar.

Despite their doubts, they still hoped everything would work out.

The next day, a man who identified himself as Mr Chen turned up to look for them.

Claiming to be the middleman's friend, he told them that they did not have the proper documents to work here and would be jailed if they did.

'He said our only way out was to prostitute ourselves, or work in massage parlours that provided sexual services,' Ms Wang said.

'Our hearts sunk as we told him no. We are not selling our bodies for a living. How are we going to face our husbands and sons if we do it?'

When the two women later asked Mr Chen where they could change their money for Singapore dollars, he replied: 'You don't have to change money at all. Just stand on the streets and men will give you money.'

Mr Chen left after both women refused to budge.

They then walked aimlessly around Geylang trying to find help.

When they came across the Geylang Chinese Methodist Church, they went in and told Pastor John Chiok, 48, about their predicament.

ANXIOUS

Said Pastor Chiok: 'They appeared anxious and frantic. They asked if I could help in any way.

'I told them I would try to find them a place to put up for the time being. They went back to the house after that.'

But the women felt uneasy there as Mr Chen called them up a few times asking them to start work.

Ms Li said: 'Each time, his tone became more hostile and we were scared that we would be forced into prostitution.

'We also called home to tell our husbands that we had been conned.'

Ms Wang added: 'We were scared each time the phone rang as Mr Chen had told us he had triad connections and that we'd better start work soon.

'Since we arrived, we have had sleepless nights. Sometimes, I would cry myself to sleep. I felt so helpless.'

Worried that they would not be 'safe' staying in the house, they decided to pack up and leave quietly the next morning, on 2 Feb.

No one stopped them when they left.

Ms Wang said: 'Mr Chen called a few more times but we were too scared to answer.

'My husband later told me over the phone that he had received a call from the middleman telling him that I'd gone missing.

'The middleman added that he was not going to care about us anymore.'

Lugging their bags, they returned to the church again and pleaded with Pastor John to let them stay there.

He eventually found a volunteer who was willing to put them up in her house.

They then made a police report.

When contacted, the police said that they had contacted and interviewed Ms Li and Ms Wang.

They clarified that the women had not been forced into prostitution.

Ms Li said: 'We hope we can stay on and work. We borrowed money from our friends and relatives to come here. If we go back now, how are we going to repay them?'

Ms Wang added: 'We came here with high hopes of giving our families a better life. 'But now, not only will we go home empty-handed, we'll be in debt.'

This article was first published by The New Paper on Feb 20, 2008.

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