THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported the arrival of the latest batch of human trafficking victims repatriated from Myanmar.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco shared that three male victims arrived in the country on Friday, on board a Philippine Airlines flight from Bangkok.
The victims, all in their 20s and early 30s, were recruited via Facebook to work as call center agents in Thailand.
However, as in the case of previous victims, they were fetched by a van and transported to Mae Sot, Thailand to cross the border to Myanmar via boat.
Upon arrival in Myanmar, they were told that they would be working as love scammers, targeting Americans and Europeans to invest in pseudo cryptocurrency accounts.
They were required to reach a weekly quota, otherwise they will be subjected to physical punishments like push ups and jump squats.
The victims likewise reported working 16-18 hours a day, with no day off. They were allowed to use their mobile phones but were heavily monitored by their employers.
They were allowed to go home only after paying almost Php 90,000 to their company.
Tansingco said that this latest batch of repatriates show that the syndicate is still operating, and shared that even other Asian countries have already reported the same concern.
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