ISTANBUL, Turkey — Turkish military police said Thursday that they had stormed an Istanbul villa to rescue nine women held captive after being tricked into believing they were reality show contestants.
The women were rescued on Monday, a military police spokesman said. He said the women were held captive for around two months.
The women were made to believe they were being filmed for a Big Brother-type television show, the Dogan news agency said. Instead, their naked images were sold on the Internet, the reports said.
The women had responded to an ad searching for contestants for a reality show that would be aired on a Turkish television station, Dogan said. The nine, including a teenager, were selected among several applicants after an interview, it said.
They were made to sign a contract that stipulated that they could have no contact with their families or the outside world and would have to pay a $33,000 if they left the show before two months, Dogan reported.
Dogan said the women soon realized they were being duped and asked to leave the villa.
The women were told they could not leave unless they paid the fine and those who insisted were threatened, Dogan said.
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