Some Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) appear to be duping the Philippine government by claiming that they stick to the license granted to them but in reality, are already engaging in online scamming operations.
This was revealed by Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, executive director of the Philippine Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), following the March 13 raid on a POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac which has so far led to the rescue of 383 Filipinos and 275 foreign nationals.
“Right now, PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) has a new policy for POGOs to renew their permits and licenses. There are still a lot of POGOs in the Philippines but only a few of them were able to comply,” said Cruz.
According to Cruz, there are around 400 POGOs which failed to renew their permits and licenses but are continuously operating across the country.
“We can say that (POGOs are now being used as a front). They would say that they would operate offshore gaming but actually, they would engage in pure scamming operations,” said Cruz.
Based on the initial result of the investigation, Cruz said the illegal operations include love scam and cryptocurrency scam.
“We interviewed some of the rescued victims and they said that they are engaging in love scams, romance scam, cryptocurrency scam and other scam activities in this POGO hub,” said Cruz.
“So we will be applying for another search warrant to examine the computer data for the filing of the cases against the operators and workers of this POGO hub,” he added.
In a statement, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda, Jr. said the operations at the Zun Yuan Technology Inc. compound in Sitio Pag-asa, Barangay Anupul in Bamban, Tarlac were conducted based on the two warrants issued by Bulacan Executive Judge Hermenegildo Dumlao for trafficking in persons and serious illegal detention.
The search warrant was issued against the personnel of the officers of Zun Yuan Technology Inc.
Acorda said police seized three shotguns, a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol with a Carbine conversion, two cal. .38 revolvers and 42 assorted live ammunition found inside the raided facility.
How it was discovered
According to Acorda, rhe raids stemmed from a complaint filed by a Vietnamese national who was able to escape from the said facility on Feb. 28.
“Likewise, a Malaysian national sought the assistance of the PAOCC under Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin because he is currently being held against his will inside the said compound,” said Acorda.
“The PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group will file a Warrant to Search, Seize and Examine Computer Data or WSSECD before a local court to enable them to confiscate and examine computer gadgets and laptop computers found in different parts of the raided buildings,” he added.
Charges
Cruz said they have already identified at least eight people responsible for cases of human trafficking, adding that additional charges maybe filed since some of the victims were discovered to have torture markings.
“We will be filing cases of human trafficking and serious illegal detention. Actually, we already identified those victims and perpetrators,” said Cruz.
“We have eight suspects and we are still looking for more victims to come out for them to identify those involved in the physical injuries, and illegal detention inside this POGO hub,” he added.
The suspects, Cruz said, are now under their custody.
Scouring continues
The raid started early morning on March 13 and as of Thursday, March 15, Cruz said authorities are still scouring the 10-hectare compound, which he said, has 36 big buildings inside.
“The operations are still being conducted, our search parties are still looking for more victims who need to be rescued and to locate more illegal establishments,” said Cruz.
He said most of the victims are Chinese and coordination is continuously being done with the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines to identify them and for repatriation processes.
Cruz revealed that most of the rescued foreigners have no passports as they appeared to have been confiscated by the suspects to prevent them from leaving.
On the part of the rescued Filipino workers, he said almost all of them were hired as security guards, janitorial services and other house chores.
It's complicated
Last year, more than 700 people were rescued in a POGO raid in Pasay City.
Hundreds more were rescued in various parts of the country in the past few years since POGO operations were allowed in 2017.
While there were calls to stop the POGO operations in the country over what they described as social cost of their presence in the country, decision-makers are hesitant in doing so until now due to billions of pesos of revenues.
The PNP-Anti-Kidnapping Group earlier stated that the presence of POGOs led to the sharp increase in kidnap-for-ransom cases in the Philippines, involving foreign nationals.
POGO operations are also being linked to other criminal activities that include sex trafficking, illegal possession of firearms and gun-running activiites, and even murder.