The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has once again raised the alarm on illegal job offers abroad, following the rescue and repatriation of a 24-year-old Filipino who was trafficked to Cambodia and forced to work as a “love scammer.”
According to BI, the man arrived back in the Philippines on Sunday night after a coordinated rescue effort involving the Philippine Embassy in Phnom Penh.
The victim revealed he was tricked into joining a fraudulent company in Cambodia, where he was instructed to target American men on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Tinder. The scheme involved pretending to send a message by mistake, luring victims into flirtatious chats, and eventually leading them to fake investment platforms.
When he failed to meet performance quotas, he said his Chinese employers would intimidate him—either by tapping him forcefully on the head, activating stun batons to produce threatening sounds, or sending disturbing GIFs showing people being electrocuted.
Before being trafficked, the victim worked as a customer service representative for an online betting company. He said the job offer came from a colleague, who also mentioned that their former boss was allegedly connected to the scam operations in Cambodia.
“These aren’t just your run-of-the-mill online scams—we’re talking about full-blown operations linked to human trafficking,” said Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado. “Victims aren’t just losing money; they’re being thrown to do shady deals.”
Viado urged Filipinos to be extra careful when seeking jobs abroad, emphasizing the importance of verifying offers and reporting anything suspicious to the proper authorities.
