Philippine authorities on Saturday said they rescued more than 1,000 people from several Asian nations who were trafficked into the country, held captive and forced into working in fraud operations, while Indonesian officials yesterday said they freed 20 of their nationals who were trafficked to Myanmar as part of an online scam.
Philippine authorities rescued 1,090 people from several Asian nations who were trafficked into the country, held captive and forced to run online scams, an official said.
International alarm has grown in recent months over online scams in the region often staffed by trafficking victims tricked or coerced into promoting bogus cryptocurrency investments.
Photo courtesy of Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group via AFP
Officers raided a cluster of buildings on Thursday in Mabalacat, about 90km north of Manila, Philippine national police spokeswoman Michelle Sabino said.
Sabino said the victims were forced to target unsuspecting people in the US, Europe and Canada.
Their passports were confiscated and they were made to work up to 18 hours a day, with salary deductions for interacting with colleagues or taking extended breaks.
Photo courtesy of Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group via AFP
“You’re like a prisoner without a cell. You’re not even allowed to talk to your roommates,” Sabino said. “They’re not allowed to leave outside the bounds of the gate. After 18 hours of work, they’re brought to their dormitory.”
The victims were mostly Chinese nationals, Vietnamese, Filipinos and Indonesians, police said in a separate statement.
Authorities also rescued people from Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Myanmar, Hong Kong and Nepal.
Sabino said the workers were trained to entice strangers into buying cryptocurrency or depositing money into bogus bank accounts after establishing fake romantic relationships.
“They will build up a promise of a good future together. Let’s buy a house, buy a car, let’s invest money or let’s do business together,” she said.
At least 12 suspected ringleaders of the scheme have been arrested and are set to be charged with human trafficking. They include seven Chinese nationals, four Indonesians and a Malaysian, Sabino said.
Sabino also said the police operation was the result of a plea by the Indonesian ambassador in Manila for help locating distressed nationals.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that its embassy in Yangon, with help from local networks, had released the victims from Myawaddy township and brought them to the Thai border on Saturday.
The Indonesian embassy in Bangkok is working closely with Thai authorities to repatriate the victims, the statement said.
Fraudulent recruiters had offered the Indonesians high-paying jobs in Thailand, but instead trafficked them to Myanmar to perform online scams for cryptocurrency Web sites or apps, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs official Judha Nugraha said.
The situation drew a national outcry in Indonesia after a video made by one of the victims went viral on social media last month. It showed dozens of grim-faced Indonesian workers in a dormitory room asking their government to help them out of “the war zone” where they often witness violence.
“Please help us back to Indonesia, because our life here is very miserable and threatened,” one person said, describing how they had been transferred from one company to other companies over the past eight months before being stranded in Myawaddy.
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