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Traded as a couple of females – fooled about (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

trafficked

'traded' is the definition.
(trafficking is a kind of trading)

'a couple of females fooled about' is the wordplay.
'couple of females' becomes 'ff' (two abbreviations for female).
'fooled' becomes 'tricked' (I've seen this before).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'a'+'ff'='aff'
'aff' going inside 'tricked' is 'TRAFFICKED'.

'as' acts as a link.

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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