27 rescued Pinoys back from Cambodia
THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) renewed its stern warning against an organized online recruitment syndicate after the recent repatriation of 27 Filipinos who were forced to work as «love scammers» for a Chinese company in Cambodia.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco on Monday said the 27 Filipinos were repatriated from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, last December 8 after being rescued from their traffickers.
Citing records, Tangsingco noted that the new batch of repatriates mostly left at the end of 2022 or the first half of 2023, which meant that the syndicate had not stopped receiving recruits despite the numerous warnings sent out by the Philippine government.
«We warned about this syndicate as early as October last year. It has been more than a year, and we are still seeing victims being duped into accepting its fake offers,» said Tansingco.
Reports show that 12 of the 27 repatriates departed illegally via boat from Zamboanga, evading formal immigration inspection. They supposedly traveled for 11 hours from Zamboanga to Sabah, Malaysia, before proceeding to Cambodia.
The other 14 departed as regular tourists, claiming they were traveling abroad for a holiday.
One of the repatriates was a government employee, while the others had either a short-term travel, traveling with friends, partner or employer, or were gainfully employed.
Only one of the 27 departed as a documented overseas Filipino worker (OFW) but was supposedly bound for Palau and not Cambodia.
All the 27 victims recounted escaping their ordeal abroad, where they were forced to work as love scammers, targeting old men residing in the United Kingdom.
Some of them experienced abuse and torture in the workplace and were later sold by their Chinese employers to another company.
Cambodian police rescued them during their transfer after being sold. They were later assisted by the Philippine Consulate in Phnom Penh.
«Imagine being a professional here but ended up being sold like a slave abroad,» said Tansingco. «These are the real stories that we have been hearing every day, yet people continue to say yes to this.»
The victims were assisted by officials from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Department of
