FOUR trafficking victims attempting to evade immigration clearance with fake departure stamps were intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco expressed concern over the recent interceptions at NAIA, saying that the illegal syndicates offering fake documentation around the airport are at it again.
“These syndicates give false promises of greener pastures. Despite their appealing facade, their exploitative practices can lead to serious repercussions,” he stressed.
All four victims have been turned over to the inter-agency council against trafficking while an investigation is currently underway to arrest and file cases against their recruiters.
The BI chief said one of the victims admitted that he was offered work by a female recruiter he met on Facebook, alleging that his recruiter demanded P120,000 as processing fee and promised that the victim could bypass immigration smoothly without his intent being detected.
That evening, officers stopped three more trafficking victims, two women aged 32 and 27 and a man aged 24, before they could board a Jetstar flight to Singapore, due to suspicious stamps in their passports.
The victims falsely claimed to be friends traveling to Cambodia for leisure but later revealed they had been recruited to work as call center agents, with a P50,000 salary for a 12-hour shift.
Tansingco said they suspect that the victims were recruited to work in scam hubs abroad that pose as call centers.
“Similar to the previous schemes, recruiters directed their victims to meet a supposed contact at a fast food chain inside NAIA Terminal 3. This contact would typically take the victims’ passports and boarding passes, then return them with counterfeit stamps,” said Tansingco.
