HUMAN trafficking syndicates are now recruiting Filipinos to work in illegal online gaming hubs in Pakistan, a change from their usual modus of deploying their victims to neighboring countries in South East Asia, the Bureau of Immigration said yesterday.
Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado described the situation as “alarming,” saying that it “is the first of its kind and marks a dangerous shift in trafficking patterns similar to POGO-like operations.”
Viado said the scheme was discovered after four Filipinos were intercepted by personnel of the Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on July 6 while attempting to depart for Hong Kong via a Cebu Pacific flight.
The four, he said, originally claimed they were travelling for a brief vacation to Hong Kong. But during a secondary inspection by immigration personnel, they admitted that their final destination is Pakistan where they were recruited to work as cleaners and a cook in an online gaming compound.
“They revealed that a Chinese national promised them monthly salaries ranging from ₱35,000 to P45,000, provided them with cash for their travel, and instructed them to pose as tourists until further arrangements were made,” Viado said.
“This is a deeply disturbing trend. We are now seeing victims being funneled to Pakistan for illegal online work, clearly a new scheme from the same criminal playbook tied to illegal POGOs. This shows how traffickers are becoming more aggressive and deceptive,” he added.
The BI chief said they are closely working with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) to investigate and identify the recruiters and facilitators behind the scheme.
At the same time, Viado reiterated his warning to aspiring overseas workers to beware of the tactics used by human traffickers and illegal recruiters to lure them into working abroad by promising them lucrative salaries, only to end up as scammers.
“Be cautious of anyone offering too-good-to-be-true opportunities abroad, especially if you’re instructed to lie or pose as a tourist. These victims were scammed, and almost trafficked out of the country under false promises,” he said.
Since last year, authorities have rescued and repatriated Filipinos lured by promises of big salaries to work in scam hubs masquerading as call centers in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
