Three Filipinos, who were suspected to be human trafficking victims, were barred from leaving the country, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Sunday, Sept. 29.

The BI said the three Filipinos were intercepted by immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 last Sept. 21 before they could board their flight to Thailand.

“All three victims have been turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for further investigation and to initiate legal action against their recruiter,” it said. 

It said the three victims whose names were withheld included a 28-year-old male and two females who are 24 and 27 years of age.

“The trio initially posed as tourists visiting Thailand for a holiday.  The male and one of the female victims claimed to be a couple, while the other female pretended to be a co-worker,” the BI said. 

However, the bureau said that an immigration officer noticed a number of discrepancies during the primary inspection.

"They submitted fake return flight tickets, hinting that they had no plans of actually returning to the country,” it said.

“The victims eventually admitted that the documents they presented were merely given by their recruiter, who ordered them to pose as traveling companions.  They shared that they were recruited via Facebook messenger to work in Cambodia as customer service representatives with a salary of more than P50,000,” it added. 

The BI warned Filipinos not to fall prey to these syndicates which recruits Filipinos and forces them to do illegal activities.

“The syndicate reportedly traps Filipino victims by forcing them to work as scammers as part of the syndicate, luring Western victims via dating sites to invest in fake cryptocurrency accounts,” it said.