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English-speaking Filipinos tricked into working at Chinese-run crypto scams: whistle-blowers
- The fraudsters would often get the help of corrupt airport officials to trick Filipinos bound for jobs overseas into working for them
- The Philippines said more than 200 of its nationals were trafficked to Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos and forced to work at casinos run by Chinese gangsters
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Raissa Roblesin Manila
Hundreds of young, university-educated Filipinos have been pulled into Asia’s scam online rooms, according to whistle-blowers, who say they are waved through Philippine airports by corrupt officials bound for jobs where their English-language skills are used to reel in targets across the world.
Witnesses rescued from the scam centres in the Mekong region say they left for what appeared to be legitimate call-centre jobs overseas, but instead resulted in them being forced into scamming people into joining fake cryptocurrency schemes.
More than 200 Philippine nationals trafficked into Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos to carry out scams returned home between last September and January this year, the Philippine government says. Most were forced to work at compounds and casinos run by Chinese gangsters.
But there are fears many more are still stuck inside the scam centres beyond the reach of the law.
02:46
‘I was beaten quite often’: Victim recounts experience with Cambodia scam operation
‘I was beaten quite often’: Victim recounts experience with Cambodia scam operation
It is “an emerging industrial complex”, said Senator Risa Hontiveros, chair of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, during a January 25 probe on the issue.
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