Six more Filipinos arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after escaping from their employers in Laos, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) announced on Sunday, April 9.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said they were the latest batch of human trafficking victims who were repatriated in the past months from various Southeast Asian countries.
Tansingco said the six Filipinos were recruited through social media job offers and were promised with high wages and bonuses. They left the country separately for Thailand to work as online chat support representatives.
Upon arrival in Bangkok, they were brought to the nearby Laos and forced to work as love scammers targeting Asians to invest in non-existing company of the syndicate.
The victims claimed they were sold three times from one company to another before they managed to reach out to the Philippine Embassy through online communication.
“This transnational crime of human trafficking has become alarming and I advised all our compatriots eager to find employment abroad to be more discerning and discriminating," the BI chief said.