Featured Image Credit: East2West
Topics: World News, News
Anish Vij
Officials have issued a response after reports suggested that an 'aspiring model' had been trafficked and killed in Myanmar.
It has been reported this week that Belarusian woman Vera Kravtsova, 26, was murdered and sold for organs after being tricked into a fake modelling job.
One online report claimed: “She flew to Bangkok for a job interview, but instead of working on the runway, she was taken to Myanmar and turned into a slave.
“Her duties included being beautiful, serving her ‘masters’, and scamming rich people.”
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While the Mash news outlet added: “Instead of shoots and contracts, she was taken across the border to Myanmar, where she was made a captive of a scam centre.
“The only requirements for her 'job' were to be beautiful and extort money from wealthy clients,” it added.
“When she stopped making money, contact with her was lost.”
There were reports that the university graduate moved from Belarus capital Minsk to St Petersburg in Russia.
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But having travelled to Vietnam, China, and Indonesia, she was said to have vanished after arriving in Bangkok for a job interview and was instead trafficked to Myanmar. The woman had not been seen online since 12 September.
It was said that Kravtsova’s family was told a few weeks after she died that if they wanted to bury her then it would cost half a million dollars to get back her body.
However, the Ambassador of Belarus, Vietnam and Myanmar has rubbished these reports in a statement.
According to Russian news site Izvestia, Vladimir Borovikov said: "We only have to regret the immoral and irresponsible behavior of individuals in spreading false and unverified information for the sake of momentary hype."
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It comes after another model called Dashinima Ochirnimayeva - from Chita in Siberia - was recruited and 'slated for sale for her organs'.
But thankfully, the 24-year-old was released by Russian diplomats.
After her rescue, she said: "I would like to thank the Russian foreign ministry for rescuing me and sending me home."
Her aunt added to RIA Novosti: "She was very frightened, but she's doing well now. She'll be home soon."
One account said: "Upon arrival in Thailand, the Chita woman was taken to a special camp on the Myanmar border.
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"There, people become slaves and serve their 'masters'.
"They are forced to engage in fraud.
"Young, beautiful women are recruited as 'models' to swindle people out of money with their faces and bodies, while the rest are trained in texts and extorting cash."