Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Atty. Joel Anthony Viado expressed serious concerns on Sunday over the startling rise of Filipinos being trafficked by catfishing syndicates.

In his statement, Atty. Viado revealed that 14 victims had their attempts to travel overseas for illicit employment in scam hotspots stopped within a week.

On 4 February, three victims, ages 33, 27, and 25, were stopped at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 as they attempted to board a Philippine Airlines flight bound for Thailand, marking the beginning of the wave of interceptions.

According to the Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES), the passengers seemed to be first-time travelers to Thailand who were traveling independently. They were referred for further inspection, nonetheless, because of the suspicions created by their contradictory answers during the initial inquiry.

The victims acknowledged during the secondary inspection that they had been recruited by a business process outsourcing (BPO) organization to serve as customer care agents in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, the next day, 11 other victims of human trafficking in their mid-20s were also stopped at NAIA Terminal 1 as they tried to board the same flight that was headed to Bangkok, Thailand.

The Bureau said that the victims first claimed to be students traveling to Thailand for four days from a particular institution. But, their contradictory responses led to additional research.

After extensive interrogation, it was discovered that the victims had been enticed to work for phony BPO companies in Pakistan with promises of P50,000 monthly salary pay. They had been told by the recruiter to hide their Pakistani visas and pretend to be on vacation students.

I-PROBES Chief Mary Jane Hizon stressed the alarming nature of these incidents, in which traffickers prey on the weak, especially young Filipinos. Before the victims are compelled to work as catfishing agents in scam hubs, these traffickers promise them legitimate jobs in respectable BPO organizations.

The BI chief criticized the scheme, stressing that it puts our fellow Filipinos in dangerous situations where they have little to no chance of escaping, imprisoned in illicit work in unregulated businesses, and subjected to dishonest business practices.

In addition to efforts to file complaints against the recruiters, all intercepted victims were referred to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for assistance.