Italian nationals face raps amid caregiver job scam
‘It became clear to us that respondents had no legal authority to recruit workers and that their representations were false from the beginning.’
Two Filipino women have asked the Department of Justice (DoJ) to file criminal charges for large-scale illegal recruitment and estafa against four Italian nationals and four Filipino partners for an alleged overseas employment scam.
In a complaint-affidavit filed Feb. 25 with the Office of the City Prosecutor in Santo Tomas City, Batangas, Samantha Corpuz and Fatima de Vera alleged they were defrauded of P120,000 after being promised non-existent caregiver jobs in Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
The complainants identified the Italian respondents as Adel En Nouri, Mohammed En Nouri, Yuness En Nouri, and Narwani Ricky Ravin. Their alleged Filipino accomplices were identified as Emilie Co Quilop, Marie Antonette Lumanlan Ng, Brian James de Jesus So, and Emmanuel Magana Silva.
According to the victims, they met the Filipino recruiters last year through a mutual acquaintance. The group allegedly represented themselves as agents for Tamber International Placement Agency and claimed to have partnerships with foreign employers for healthcare assistant roles.
The women said they were later introduced to the Italian partners via video calls. During these sessions, Adel En Nouri reportedly assured them that Filipino applicants were being prioritized for roles paying between P120,000 and P140,000 monthly.
“The respondents emphasized that slots were limited and that immediate payment was necessary to secure our application,” the affidavit stated. The victims were told the fees were refundable if the deployment did not proceed.
After paying the fees, the women attended a seven-day online orientation conducted by the Italian nationals. However, the promised two-month deployment window passed without progress.
The victims later discovered that the group lacked the required licenses from the government to recruit or deploy workers for overseas employment.
“It became clear to us that respondents had no legal authority to recruit workers and that their representations were false from the beginning,” the complainants said.
The case is now under review by the DoJ for the filing of formal charges.