English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature children's literature

The highlanders could pretend to be kind and sympathetic, but for others their sympathy always meant either slavery or their valuables taken from them.


Dear native English speakers!

Please help with the phrase to get the idea across. I feel that it sounds somewhat awkward, but can't come up with anything better.
What I'm trying to say here is that the highlanders' false sympathy either ended in slavery for other people (at the worst), or they would simply get hold of other people's valuables.

This is my translation from Russian.