Three women were repatriated from Singapore earlier this month after they were cheated by a broker who promised them jobs as waitresses, but were instead pushed into jobs as karaoke workers, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday.

The three unidentified women – aged 32, 23 and 23, and hailing from Prey Veng, Kampong Cham and Koh Kong provinces – arrived in Phnom Penh on October 21, only a week after departing for the island city-state.

Chum Sounry, spokesman for the ministry, said the women sought help from the Cambodian Embassy in Singapore, and declined to provide their names.

The women didn’t want to be karaoke workers and wanted to return to Cambodia, but were ordered by their boss at the karaoke parlour to pay back $1,500 for their passports and the cost of their flights.

The embassy was able to intervene, and the employer, who wasn’t identified, agreed to hand over the passports and pay for their flights back to the Kingdom.