Human traffickers offering overseas jobs
THE Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) of the Justice Department has called on Filipinos to be cautious in accepting online job offers abroad.
The warning comes after six Filipinos were recently repatriated from Laos, where they were allegedly forced by syndicates to perform illegal activities, according to reports.
In a statement, the IACAT reiterated its appeal to Filipinos seeking jobs abroad to follow legal procedures and to exercise caution when dealing with online job offers abroad as customer service representatives, especially in Southeast Asian regions.
The repatriated Filipinos arrived in the country on April 6 via Philippine Airlines flight PR741 at Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
The victims, who left the Philippines at separate times, were recruited to work as chat support agents in Thailand but were instead brought to Laos where they were allegedly forced to work for syndicates as “love scammers” targeting Asians.
The syndicate’s modus operandi was to find potential clients who could be deceived into falling in love with them, and then urging them to invest in their pseudo company.
The victims reported being sold three times from one company to another before finally contacting the Philippine Embassy through online communication.
