Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros yesterday warned the public about a bogus tour package advertisement being offered by remnants of shuttered Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hubs.
Hontiveros urged social media users not to fall for the new modus, which she said preys on those who click or view travel video advertisements in social media platforms.
She said her office has received information that former POGO operators are now using the bogus tour package advertisements to recruit unsuspecting individuals to become scammers.
The scheme, she added, is supposedly being run by former POGO bosses who refuse to leave the country despite the shutdown of the offshore gaming industry.
She said the operators have purportedly “morphed” their former businesses into scam hubs.
Hontiveros said that according to the information given to her office, once an individual click or signify interest in the travel ads, POGO personnel would then use their information to recruit them into joining work in their destination country.
“May mga bago pa silang modus, mga travel ads kuno sa simula. Pero sa mag-signify ng interest, parang ipa sign-in nila at i-recruit nila sa mga scam operations na pala (They have a new modus operandi, the so-called travel ads. Once a person signifies interest, they will be made to sign-in without knowing that they are already being recruited in scam operations),” Hontiveros said at the “Kapihan sa Senado” media forum.
She said the travel ads include, among others, “Let’s Explore Thailand Travel Incentives,” which supposedly offers a tour package promo from February 1 to April 30, 2025; and “Travel Incentive Thailand 4D-3N (4 days, 3 nights),” with trips to Bangkok and Pattaya City.
Hontiveros said this was what happened to 12 Filipino victims who were rescued from a scam center in Myanmar. The 12 are waiting to be repatriated to Manila.
The Filipinos were recruited as customer sales representatives using a social media site but ended up working as online scammers in Myanmar.
Hontiveros said the 12 were allegedly beaten by their superiors when they failed to meet the imposed quota.
Hontiveros lamented anew how POGO operators were able to freely operate in the country due to the protection of corrupt government officials.
“Of course, mahirap maging completely POGO-free agad kasi nine years na sila o eight years sila nandito mula ng panahon ni Duterte. Pero mahirap man, we can and we should put an end to them
(Of course it is hard to be completely POGO-free since they have been here for the past nine or eight years from the time of former President [Rodrigo] Duterte. I know it’s really hard, but we can and we should put an end to them),” she said.
She said government officials found to have given POGO operators protection should be charged in court as what was recommended in the committee report of the Committee on Women based on its investigations on the ills of POGOs.
Hontiveros said that it was also during the Senate investigations into the offshore gaming industry that the existence of Chinese spies in the country was discovered.
