{"id":777023095,"date":"2025-02-19T10:00:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777023095"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:39:37","slug":"filipinos-leaving-to-work-for-scam-operators-bureau-of-immigration-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/filipinos-leaving-to-work-for-scam-operators-bureau-of-immigration-warns","title":{"rendered":"Filipinos leaving to work for scam operators, Bureau of Immigration warns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A spokesperson\u00a0said scam hubs were being disguised as business process outsourcing companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has warned that Filipinos are leaving the country to seek employment with companies similar to offshore gaming operators in other Asian countries.\u00a0In a briefing, BI spokesperson <strong>Dana Sandoval<\/strong> said 118 Filipinos had been hired to work in scam hubs disguised as business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sandoval said: \u201cMany countrymen are being tricked into joining and being part of these scam hubs. We have noticed the trend in<strong> Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos<\/strong>. These are some of the countries that our citizens go to, and we noticed they have offshore gaming-like operations but this is not limited to these countries.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sandoval said citizens were taking the chance due to attractive offers, including free accommodation and meals, purportedly to work as customer service representatives.\u00a0But she added that there is often a debt bondage requiring the Filipino workers to pay a release fee of up to PHP500,000 for the cost of their recruitment. Sandoval said some recruiters had already been arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Winston Casio<\/strong>, director and spokesperson for the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), warned Filipinos not to be lured to overseas job offers with high salaries. He said: &#8220;If PAOCC arrests you, together with foreign nationals in scamming hubs, we will file criminal charges against you.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"PCO Press Briefing with BI and PAOCC 02\/19\/2025\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lAD48JzsdOs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: RTVM.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PAOCC aims to eradicate offshore gaming operators by year-end<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>PAOCC executive director under secretary\u00a0<strong>Gilbert Cruz<\/strong>\u00a0said that he expects to eradicate illegal offshore gaming operators by year-end. At the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, Cruz, said\u00a0<strong>more than a hundred offshore gaming operators<\/strong>\u00a0remain <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-authorities-raid-illegal-gambling-operation-in-pasay-city\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">operating on a small scale<\/a> after the ban that took effect in January. Cruz said most operators are now doing business from apartments, and condominiums, including from rooms in hotels or resorts.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/04\/Bloomberrys-new-Philippines-IR-opening-date-delayed-300x200.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\"><span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senate-committee-warns-criminal-activity-continues-despite-offshore-gaming-ban\">Philippine Senate committee warns criminal activity continues despite offshore gaming ban<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A spokesperson\u00a0said scam hubs were being disguised as business process outsourcing companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777018832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Philippine Bureau of Immigration has issued a warning regarding the recruitment of Filipinos into illicit scam hubs, frequently disguised as BPOs with \"offshore gaming-like operations,\" predominantly in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, often involving debt bondage. Concurrently, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission aims to eradicate remaining illegal offshore gaming operators within the Philippines by year-end, acknowledging their continued clandestine operation post-ban.","focusai_entities":"Bureau of Immigration, Dana Sandoval, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, Winston Casio, Gilbert Cruz","focusai_location":"Philippines, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, Quezon City","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Cross-border Enforcement?","query":"What specific cross-border enforcement mechanisms are being explored by Philippine authorities with Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos to dismantle these scam hubs and facilitate victim repatriation?"},{"label":"POGO Sector Impact?","query":"How do these persistent illegal offshore gaming operations and associated criminal activities impact the regulatory landscape and public perception of the legitimate Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) sector?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777023095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777023095"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777023124,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023095\/revisions\/777023124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777018832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777023095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777023095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777023095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}