Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 have stopped a scam victim who was duped into paying P120,000 for fake assistance in order to work illegally abroad.

According to BI Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) chief Mary Jane Hizon, the victim, who was a 27-year-old female and only named by her alias “Amy,” was intercepted last 2 January after trying to bypass the immigration inspection by pretending to be a tourist headed to Bangkok, Thailand.

Reports said that after trying to evade departure counters, Alias Amy was apprehended by alert immigration officers and supervisors.

She was unable to present her passport and boarding pass upon inspection, claiming that these were in the possession of an unnamed man she had met at a restaurant near NAIA Terminal 3.

The victim provided a photo of her passport and boarding pass, which the BI officer discovered to be stamped with a counterfeit immigration stamp.

Alias Amy admitted to spending P120,000 in multiple online bank transactions after seeing a Facebook post advertising immigrant escort services. The man instructed her to wait for a purported escort after giving him all her travel documents.

A few minutes prior to her scheduled boarding time, the victim was instructed to hurry to the gates. She was then intercepted by BI officers, who found that the man she was speaking to had blocked her.