A growing number of Filipinos are falling prey to deceptive job offers abroad, only to be trafficked into operating online love scams, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) revealed.
One such case involved a 24-year-old Filipino who returned home on Sunday after being rescued from a scam hub in Cambodia. He arrived via a Philippine Airlines flight from Phnom Penh.
The victim said he was forced to manage multiple fake female profiles on dating apps and social media platforms like Tinder, targeting unsuspecting foreigners in romance scams. He described grueling 15-hour shifts and harsh punishments when he failed to meet quotas—including being struck on the head and threatened with stun batons.
“These aren’t just your run-of-the-mill online scams. We’re talking about full-blown operations linked to human trafficking,” said BI spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval Viado. “Victims aren’t just losing money, they’re being thrown to do shady deals.”
Four more Filipinos were repatriated from Cambodia on July 12, arriving at NAIA Terminal 1. The victims—aged between 27 and 46—shared similar accounts of abuse and deception. Three were duped into leaving the country as tourists, while the fourth crossed into Malaysia via a speedboat from Palawan.
They said they had been promised high-paying jobs in Thailand, only to be trafficked into Cambodia and coerced into running fraudulent schemes, including phishing and fake online relationships.
“Human trafficking remains one of the most devious crimes affecting our people,” Viado stressed. “These victims were lured with lies and ended up stripped of their rights and dignity. The government will not stop in its efforts to identify and dismantle the networks responsible for these abuses.”
The BI has partnered with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking to track down the recruiters and networks behind the victims’ illegal deployment.
