The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday disclosed that its officers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 recently intercepted two Filipinas suspected of involvement in a coordinated mail-order bride scheme.

This comes as the Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) informed BI commissioner Joel Anthony Viado that the two women, in their early twenties, were stopped before boarding a Xiamen Airlines flight to China.

During initial departure checks, both claimed they were accompanying their Chinese spouses.

During secondary inspection, both presented marriage documents and claimed to have been married for a long time. However, I-PROBES noted significant inconsistencies in their testimonies, including the fact they were married on the same day and at the same time.

Further questioning led the pair to admit their marriages were fake. They also revealed that two other Filipinas had married Chinese nationals on the same day.

One of the women stated that a third party arranged the marriage and paperwork, and her only role was to be present at the ceremony. She added they were instructed to act as if they didn’t know each other during the trip.

“This scheme is still evolving and is aimed at vulnerable Filipinas. To take advantage of our ladies, traffickers are using new strategies,” Viado said in a statement.

Viado, in cooperation with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), reiterated the BI’s commitment to preventing human trafficking and protecting vulnerable Filipinos.

The two women were turned over to IACAT for further investigation into their recruiters.