Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco expressed his disappointment over the interception of four more trafficking victims posing as tourists.
The BI’s immigration protection and border enforcement section (I-PROBES) earlier reported the interception of the victims, three females and a male, last February 17 at the Clark International Airport (CIA) after they attempted to depart on board a Cebu Pacific flight for Bangkok.
The report stated that two of the victims were cousins who were recruited via Facebook to work in Koh Kong, Cambodia. They invited two others to join them at the worksite, and they were said to have been instructed to pose as tourists to Thailand for a vacation to deceive immigration authorities.
They admitted that they were offered a job as a non-voice customer representative with a monthly salary of around 800 USD, with free food and accommodation.
“Paulit-ulit nalang,” said Tansingco. “These individuals have good backgrounds, are tech savvy, yet they chose to be blinded by the offers of these syndicates,” said Tansingco.
He said that there have been hundreds repatriated who were recruited using the exact same modus but ended up working in scam hubs with low salaries and physically abused.
Cousins made to pose as tourist to work in pseudo-call centers
“Hindi ba sila natatakot? Ang pag-alis sa iligal na pamamaraan ay napakalaking risk, lalong lalo na’t alam na natin ang kinahihinatnan ng maraming biktima,” he added.
Earlier this year, the BI shared the repatriation of a couple who were recruited under similar terms but ended up detained and subjected to physical abuse by their employers. They were also made to pay nearly P800,000 to be released by their company.
The four victims were turned over to the CIA Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for assistance in filing cases against their recruiters
Meanwhile, BI announced the arrest of a Taiwanese fugitive wanted by authorities in Taipei for corrupt practices he allegedly committed when he was an officer in the Taiwanese army.
In a statement, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the captured fugitive as Li Chen Yu, 36, who was arrested last Thursday in Bgy. Banilad, Cebu City, by joint operatives from the BI’s fugitive search unit (FSU) and the police criminal investigation and detection group (CIDG).
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