BRAVE REAL LIFE
*Samantha, 31, from London, thought she was going for a job interview – but she was plunged into a nightmare.
Hearing my phone ping with a new message, I quickly snatched it up. I’d come to the UK from New Zealand in September 2017 after travelling around Europe for a while – but after six months here, I was struggling to find work and my money was quickly drying up.
I’d downloaded an app called Job Today, hoping to find something to bring some cash in fast – it linked you up to lots of different organisations, often in hospitality settings, so I’d made a profile and attached my CV. And now I had my first message. It was from a woman called Kristy, saying she had work to offer me – Ireplied with my number.
But in the early hours of the next morning, my phone buzzed with a new WhatsApp message from someone at the Soul Mate agency – Iassumed Kristy had passed on my number.
How would you feel about escort work? Paying for sex is prostitution and illegal, but paying for somebody’s time and company isn’t. You’ll make £500 a night.
It sounded easy and almost too good to be true – but I needed money. It must be legit, I thought. Like they said, paying for sex is illegal.
I thought it would just be spending time with men – going on dates, offering companionship, the ‘girlfriend experience’.
I had rent and bills to pay, so I jumped at the opportunity.
I don’t have to do it forever, I thought, worrying about what my friends would think. This could be the solution to my problems, no one has to know.
Then I had a message from James, who ran the agency.
We had a conversation about the job, what it involved, how much I would be paid – it all sounded easy and enticing.
Will you come for an interview? he messaged, and when I agreed, he sent me an address in Camden.
Dressing up smartly, I headed there a couple of days later.
When I turned up outside a pub, I was confused.
Maybe he sent the wrong post code, I thought, messaging him as I looked around.
But he replied saying someone would come down to get me, and bring me to his office. A few minutes later, a young girl walked towards me.
‘Follow me,’ she said, beckoning as we made our way in silence to what looked like a residential flat. This is odd... I thought. Leading me up the stairs, she opened the door and James was waiting there.
Then she disappeared, and we were all alone.
‘Hi, Sam,’ he said, looking me up and down.
‘I thought we were meeting at your office?’ I questioned. ‘This is just a temporary situation,’ he said. ‘Can I s
