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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Beware of POGO jobs disguised as CSR-related employment abroad—PAOCC

Beware of POGO jobs disguised as CSR-related employment abroad—PAOCC

Published Feb 19, 2025 05:35 am

If someone offers you a customer service representative post in other Southeast Asian countries, there is a 50 percent chance that you will be transported to another territory and be forced to scam people and get tortured.

raid on lending companies PAOCC.jpg
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and other law enforcement agencies conducted an operation against alleged abusive lending companies in Makati City on January 31, 2025. (Photo courtesy of PAOCC)

This was the warning issued by Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) director Winston Casio to Filipinos who are enticed to leave the country and grab the CSR-related job offers in Southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.

"If you see a posting in Meta or Facebook or telegram or whatever, asking you to go to any of the following countries, a CSR, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,  I’d rather not go to those places, because you have a 50/50 chance of being  tortured," Casio said in a Palace briefing on Wednesday, Feb. 19.

"Now, if someone recruits you  to go to Bangkok, Thailand  for a supposed CSR-related job, there is a 50/50 chance that you will be transported from Bangkok, once you arrive in Bangkok, you will be brought to the boundaries of Burma or Cambodia," Casio added.

"We know the horror stories of Chinese actors, models, etcetera, landing in Bangkok  for supposed  entertainment jobs, but finding themselves in  Myanmar.  So, please do not be enticed by these high-paying jobs because it’s not   worth the risk," Casio further warned.

He made the call, noting that they have rescued Filipinos who were actual torture victims.

"We have videos of Filipinos being tortured in Myawaddy na na-rescue namin and hindi natin kayang sikmurain iyong ganoon klaseng torture (that we were able to rescue and we cannot stomach that kind of torture)," he said.

The PAOCC official said together with the Office of Police Attache of Bangkok, Thailand, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), they were able to rescue a good number of Filipinos who were tortured in their workplaces.

Casio further issued a stern warning to Filipinos of possible criminal charges if they are arrested in POGO hubs being raided by the government under its massive crackdown.  

"I’m calling  on all our Filipino nationals here in the Philippines, if PAOCC arrests you together  with foreign nationals in scamming hubs, we will file criminal charges against you," he said.

According to Casio, they have arrested 114 Filipinos involved in scamming.

He said they were arrested in the online lending  application, and are still in jail awaiting their ability to pay  the bail.

Related Tags

PAOCC csr Scammers POGO
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