On Saturday afternoon, the Bureau of Immigration announced that the six victims of human trafficking who were recruited to work at scam hubs in Myanmar were repatriated to the country on 4 April.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that the recent batch of repatriations included 4 males and 2 females who all left the country as tourists in 2023.

Tansingco regrets that many Filipinos continue to attempt to travel overseas to work illegally, even after multiple warnings about the prevalence of the said scams.

It can be recalled that in 2022, the BI raised the first red signal on the said modus.

Interpol recently expressed worry about syndicates operating online romance scam centers in Southeast Asia, and many Filipino employees fall victim to human trafficking in the Philippines.

"Many countries have already agreed that this is a growing crisis," said Tansingco.

"Yet some Filipinos insist on departing as tourists to try out work offers they receive online, only to be duped into working in these scam hubs," he added.

All six victims reportedly received little to no salary and were subjected to physical and psychological abuse.

"Stop risking your life for these too-good-to-be-true job offers," warned Tansingco.

"Many have already suffered; do not let yourself be the next victim," the BI chief added.