Trafficked workers from Malaysian cybercrime hubs repatriated
FILIPINOS trafficked to work in illegal online investment and gambling scam operations in Kuantan and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia are welcomed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Photograph courtesy of Bureau of Immigration
Six Filipinos trafficked to work in illegal online scam operations in Malaysia have returned to the Philippines following police raids on their workplaces, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced Wednesday.
The repatriates — five men aged 28 to 33 and a 37-year-old woman — arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport last 24 October after Malaysian authorities raided facilities in Kuantan and Kota Kinabalu that posed as legitimate investment and customer service centers.
Interviews conducted by the BI’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section revealed that recruiters lured the victims through Facebook and Telegram postings for customer service representative and call center jobs with promised monthly salaries of $1,000 to $1,200.
Upon arrival in Malaysia, the workers were forced to run online gambling scams targeting foreign victims. Several returnees said they never received their promised wages, while others reported that supervisors confiscated their passports.
The victims stated that their travel and employment were arranged by a network of Filipino, Chinese and Malaysian facilitators.
A review of immigration records showed that several of the returnees had previously been stopped from departing the Philippines as illegal workers, while others were first-time international travelers.
Further investigation revealed that five of the six repatriates left the country through the “backdoor” maritime route connecting Zamboanga and Tawi-Tawi to Sabah, Malaysia, bypassing official immigration checkpoints.