Four Filipinos with fake immigration stamps on their passports and boarding passes have been stopped from leaving the country, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Tuesday, Sept. 3.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the four Filipinos were intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 last Aug. 31.

“Similar to the previous schemes, recruiters directed their victims to meet a supposed contact at a fast food chain inside NAIA Terminal 3,” Tansingco said.  

“This contact would take the victims' passports and boarding passes, then return them with counterfeit stamps,” he said. 

One of these Filipinos, a 41-year-old male, was stopped from boarding his flight to Hong Kong. “The victim admitted that he was offered work by a female recruiter he met on Facebook,” the BI said.   

“The victim alleged that his recruiter demanded P120,000 as processing fee and promised that the victim could bypass immigration smoothly without his intent being detected,” it said. 

After the first victim, immigration officers intercepted three more Filipinos -- two females and a male -- who were supposed to board a flight to Singapore. 

“The victims falsely claimed to be friends traveling to Cambodia for leisure but later revealed they had been recruited to work as call center agents, with a P50,000 salary for a 12-hour shift,” the BI said.

The four victims have been turned over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) for investigation and the filing of charges against their recruiters.

Tansingco again reminded the public to turn down offers of syndicates for work abroad.

“These syndicates give false promises of greener pastures. Despite their appealing facade, their exploitative practices can lead to serious repercussions,” he warned.