These real life stories show how people who’ve used our services have moved forward after crime. Please note all names have been changed.

Lily is a woman in her early 50s. She was identified as a victim of modern slavery working in a hotel in Wales. She was trafficked away from her home and family and exploited by her abusers.

What happened?

Lily was a victim of forced labour and exploitation. She was forced to work long hours with very little and sometimes no pay. She was given accommodation as an incentive. Lily received no contract of employment, no payslips, and wasn’t even given access to her own money.

Our modern slavery caseworker helped Lily get her life back under control again, ensuring she was safe at all times.

With help from Victim Support Lily moved out of Wales to a place where she could begin to rebuild her life away from the abusers. Our modern slavery caseworker kept in contact with Lily over the phone on a weekly basis.

Over the following months, Lily got a new job where she now receives fair and equal pay, a payslip and has a contract. Lily has now also moved into her own home, where she no longer feels she is at risk of being exploited.

Our North Wales fraud caseworker recently supported a woman named Jasmine. She had been the victim of a romance fraud. The fraud had been going on for a long time, and Jasmine had been greatly affected by it.

What happened?

Jasmine was going through a difficult time in her personal life when she was approached by the suspect on Instagram. The conversation quickly moved to WhatsApp.

The suspect said they were in the US military. He soon started confessing his love for Jasmine. He started asking her for small amounts of money. When Jasmine refused, he emotionally blackmailed her, saying she couldn’t care about him if she didn’t give him money. Jasmine even borrowed money from family members to send to the suspect, leaving her in debt.

When Jasmine made it clear she had no money left, another person got in touch saying the original suspect had shot himself because Jasmine didn’t send money.

Understandably, this has had a devastating impact on Jasmine. She has been affected financially and emotionally, and feels betrayed and violated.

The fraud has left Jasmine feeling lost and confused as she put a lot of trust and time in speaking to the suspect. Romance fraud is very hard to process and can leave those affected in total shock.

Jasmine found the courage to report the fraud and get help from Victim Support. This included weekly calls discussing her feelings, building her confidence and self-esteem. Jasmine felt unnerved because the suspect had her home address and other personal information. To make her feel safer at home, Victim Support sent Jasmine security items including a decoy CCTV camera.

Victim Support were able to advocate with the police, asking for updates and making sure Jasmine was contacted when an update was available. We also provided fraud prevention information on how to keep safe.

Like many victims of romance fraud, one of the main things Jasmine struggled with is the thought of other people being targeted and experiencing the same thing.

Jasmine was put in touch with our media team where she was able to share her story. Jasmine felt this helps to raise awareness and hopefully encourage others who have experienced romance fraud to reach out for support.