RH, I understand your incredulity but in this world that we inhabit all things imaginable and unimaginable happen. As a monger with a conscientious I can imagine there is a part of us that finds these kinds of stories hard to accept, that inner resistance is there, we don't want to believe this kind of thing happens.
As you state, a girl working with the ICE clearly has a motive to create a dramatic sympathetic story, but for the case to fly the details need to be provided so that investigations can be conducted and offenders apprehended, the truth eventually emerges from that process. If their stories don't add up they don't get the pass.
Snakeheads were pervasive during certain periods and less so now but the offenses reported took place at some point in the past. Even so, a snakehead who has chosen organized crime as a way of life and has a working scheme will probably continue to work the scheme with modifications in new markets, so while this is less likely to happen in SK today, partly due to media exposure of these stories and crackdowns, they might be replicated somewhere else like Mainland China (wealth disparities there are dramatic). So in a sense the topic is always relevant to the ICE and governments with vulnerable populations.
As a customer, a friend, or even an advertiser, it is unlikely you will ever get a girl who will reveal her full story, you can imagine there are many reasons for that like they are there to make you feel good,they simply might be scared to talk about these things, or perhaps you haven't run into the girls with the worst tales to tell. I think the girls are likely to be less afraid for themselves than for their families and while nothing might have happened to them as horrific as described in Jaxx post (#80 of the thread) the fear of retaliation because of default is enough to keep girls working to pay back, after all the reason they may have choose the agency knowingly or not probably has something to do with their peeps in many cases but I suspect nothing so dramatic like the beating story reported.
You are truly fortunate not have had a robotic experience , read a TOFTT here or elsewhere, this is pretty common actually, that is in part what keeps many reading the boards, most have not been as lucky as you.
Finally, no matter what the profession, many of us really don't know what we are getting into, even if we intern and do our research, you have to live it day in and day out. I can imagine a legal teen or young twenty-something thinking, "I like sex, I like money, piece of cake", then the day to day reality hits and it is a different story. What they do next is what is key, denial is a bitch and impulsivity is a bitch. Young people are usually naive and stupid but unfortunately that is the time we need to make choices that determine our lives, without a good Rabbi or other wise guidance the world is a minefield!
There are interest on the advertising side and biz side to keep the fantasy going and to protest such stories, I don't blame them, sometimes there is too much reality on the board when all we want to do is forget reality and have fun and get our fix. I want the good people and places to keep on going, I don't want stories like this to kill their businesses.
I hear you RH, I don't mean to be contentious but I write out of respect for those affected, I actually know a few stories about debt bondage and threats but not more crazy shit.
Peace out,
TB