The Bureau of Immigration on Sunday warned Filipinos anew against falling victim to a trafficking ring that lures them abroad with promises of call center jobs only to end up as love scammers.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco urged aspiring overseas workers to be wary of "unscrupulous individuals" offering illegal work in Asian countries.

Tansingco's warning came after the recent repatriation of 27 Filipinos from Cambodia, rescued from their traffickers.

Preliminary reports indicated that 12 victims left Zamboanga illegally by boat, bypassing immigration inspection. They reached Sabah, Malaysia, before traveling to Cambodia.

The remaining 14 victims posed as tourists, including a government employee, travelers on short-term trips, and one documented overseas Filipino worker who was supposed to be in Palau, not Cambodia.

Tansingco said the syndicate continued recruiting Filipinos despite government warnings, noting some of the victims arrived in Cambodia in late 2022 or early 2023.

"We warned about this syndicate as early as October last year. It has been more than a year, and we are still seeing victims being duped into accepting their fake offers," he said.

The victims described being made to act as suitors for elderly men in the UK before being sold to another company after enduring mistreatment and torture. They were rescued by the Cambodian police during their transfer and assisted by the Philippine Consulate in Phnom Penh.

"Imagine being a professional here but ending up being sold like a slave abroad," Tansingco remarked. "These are the real stories we hear every day, yet people continue to say yes to this."

The repatriates received assistance from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, the Department of Migrant Workers, and the Department of Foreign Affairs after immigration clearance.