FILIPINO trafficking victims repatriated from Myawaddy, Myanmar revealed a new trend in scam hub operations.
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said that one of the victims recounted how the scam hubs are now targeting Filipino migrants in the United States where scammers deceive unsuspecting victims by persuading them to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency accounts, often promising high returns with little to no risk.
The scammers, according to BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval, employ various tactics, including contacting FilAms via social media messages to lure investors and once the victims transfer their money, the scammers may manipulate account balances to show fake profits, convincing them to invest even more. Eventually, the fraudsters disappear with the funds, leaving the victims unable to withdraw their supposed earnings.
An alias ‘Jon Jon’ arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives and who was among the individuals repatriated on March 26 claimed to have been victimized by the syndicate abroad, but was later tagged by his colleagues as one of the recruiters who offered work in Thailand but ended up transporting them to Myanmar where they were abused and forced to work as scammers.
The repatriates pointed to alias ‘Jon Jon’, who allegedly volunteered to develop the new module targeting FilAms, with one repatriate even stating that ‘Jon Jon’ pretended to be a victim, despite having recruited numerous illegal workers already.
