Bureau of Immigration (BI) commissioner Atty. Joel Anthony Viado said on Wednesday that Filipino trafficking victims recently repatriated from Myawaddy, Myanmar, revealed a new trend in scam hub activities.

In accordance with orders from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the BI chief is alerting the public, especially Filipino migrants in the United States, and informing them about this new trend by these syndicates to protect fellow citizens from scams.

According to Viado, one of the victims described how scam hubs are now focusing on Filipino immigrants living in the U.S. The alleged scammers deceive their unsuspecting victims by persuading them to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency accounts, offering high profits with little to no risk.

The scammers also employ various tactics, including contacting Filipino-Americans (FilAms) via social media messages to lure investors.

After victims have transferred their funds, scammers may manipulate their account balances to appear as though they have made a profit to persuade them to make additional investments.

The victims are eventually unable to withdraw their purported earnings as the scammers disappear with the money they have invested.

Earlier, Viado hailed the arrest of alias ‘Jon Jon’ by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) operatives who were among the individuals repatriated on 26 March.

He claimed to have been victimized by the syndicate abroad but was later identified by his colleagues as one of the recruiters who offered work in Thailand but ended up transporting them to Myanmar, where they were abused and forced to work as scammers.

Repatriates identified alias ‘Jon Jon’ as the individual who allegedly volunteered to develop the new module targeting FilAms. One repatriate even stated that ‘Jon Jon’ pretended to be a victim despite having recruited numerous illegal workers.

"We want to warn our kababayans overseas not to fall for this new modus. The Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) is currently working to ensure that those who continue to victimize Filipinos face the harshest penalties of the law," said Viado.