Illegal recruiters employ ‘risible’ tactics, says BI

The Bureau of Immigration on Sunday reiterated its warning to the public against illegal recruiters who are already resorting to fabricating stories which their unwitting victims would tell to Immigration officials.

This comes after BI commissioner Norman Tansingco revealed an incident involving a female victim who attempted to board a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Singapore at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 on 14 November.

Tansingco narrated that Immigration officers became suspicious after the victim presented return credentials in someone else's name.

The victim explained that she was required by her recruiter to claim that she was working for a merchandise company in the Philippines. They even provided her with fake bank documents with clear grammatical errors, she said.

Later, BI-NAIA officials found out that she was recruited to work as an entertainer in a bar in Singapore.

Tansingco also said that the following day, another female victim claimed to be a winner of a raffle conducted by a travel agency.

According to the BI Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section at the Clark International Airport, the victim attempted to board an Eva Air trip to Singapore as she claimed that she had won a raffle contest sponsored by a Dubai-based travel agency.

She said that as the raffle winner, she was given a vacation package that included a plane ticket and a three-day hotel stay in the mentioned city-state.

However, when asked about basic details about the contest, she was not familiar with how she won or how she was declared a winner.