The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has stopped 14 individuals from leaving the Philippines, suspecting they were victims of human trafficking recruited to work in fraudulent business process outsourcing (BPO) firms abroad.
In a statement on Sunday, February 9, the BI confirmed that the individuals were intercepted at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 as part of ongoing efforts to combat trafficking.
The first group, consisting of three individuals aged 33, 25, and 27, was stopped on February 4 while attempting to board a Philippine Airlines flight to Thailand. Initially claiming to be first-time travelers on a self-funded trip, inconsistencies in their responses led authorities to dig deeper. They later admitted they had been recruited to work in Cambodia as customer service representatives for a fraudulent BPO company.
The next day, 11 more individuals, all in their mid-20s, were prevented from boarding another Philippine Airlines flight to Bangkok. They initially posed as students on a short trip, but inconsistencies in their statements led to further questioning. Authorities discovered that they had been promised a monthly salary of P50,000 to work in scam hubs in Pakistan. Their recruiter had reportedly instructed them to hide their Pakistani visas and pretend to be tourists.
The 14 individuals have been turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking for proper assistance, according to the BI.
