BUREAU of Immigration (BI) officers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 stopped two individuals pretending to be officemates on vacation as part of a phony employee scheme.
The BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) reported that two women, aged 25 and 31, attempted to pass themselves off as co-workers on leave, bound for Bangkok, Thailand. They stated that they were both working as call center agents for a BPO in Quezon City, and are traveling for tourism.
However, upon presenting their documents, officers noted inconsistencies that contradicted their initial statements.
After further questioning, the individuals admitted that they were not really officemates, but were actually recruited to work in Laos, where they would take up customer service representative (CSR) positions and promised a P50,000 salary per month.
They admitted to have paid P3,000 to a fixer they met on social media to produce documents to make it seem like they were officemates.
BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado warned the public about scam hubs in Asian countries, targeting Filipinos to work as CSRs. These syndicates lure victims with promises of high-paying call center jobs, only for them to be forced into fraudulent activities, such as online scams and cryptocurrency fraud, under harsh and abusive working conditions.
“We strongly advise Filipinos to be cautious when accepting job offers abroad, especially those that seem too good to be true,” said Viado. “Many of these so-called call center jobs turn out to be fronts for large-scale scam operations that exploit and endanger our fellow countrymen.”
The victims were turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation.
