Twelve Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) — eight women and four men — are currently detained in Malaysia after being caught using fraudulent travel documents to enter the country en route to Laos.
According to the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), the Filipinos were duped by illegal recruiters who posed as “HR Ara” and “Joey” on the messaging app Telegram. The victims were promised jobs as call center agents with a monthly salary of ₱50,000.
The truth unraveled only when Malaysian authorities apprehended them. From Manila, they were reportedly moved to Puerto Princesa and various provinces in Mindanao before being transported to Sabah and eventually reaching Kota Kinabalu using counterfeit entry stamps.
They were arrested at the Malaysia-Thailand border and convicted on March 20, 2025.
Thanks to the efforts of the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and the DMW-Migrant Workers Office (MWO), the original penalties were reduced. The 12 were sentenced to three months in jail — the men are now held in Perlis, and the women in Kedah. They are expected to be released by June 2025.
The DMW has once again urged Filipinos to remain vigilant against online job offers, especially those that bypass legal recruitment channels.
