BACOLOD CITY – The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-Bacolod has filed qualified trafficking charges against two Malaysians arrested last week for allegedly running a love scam operation here.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2025/3/27/8-filipinos-rescued-from-love-scam-hub-in-bacolod
Police Major Justin Noel Josol, chief of CIDG-Bacolod, revealed that the suspects had been operating in this city for over a year, recruiting at least 100 individuals to serve as workers or models in a scheme designed to deceive foreign clients.
JOSOL (Glazyl Masculino)
Josol said tracking the suspects’ workers was challenging as some of them were working remotely.
He called on individuals involved in the racket to come forward and become witnesses in the alleged illegal activities of the suspects.
One of the suspects, aged 60, has been residing here for over 10 years while his relative has been here for more than a year.
In addition to the trafficking charges, the suspects may also face cases from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for overstaying with expired visas.
During the simultaneous raid on March 27 in two rented homes in Barangay Singcang-Airport, authorities rescued seven victims and some equipment were seized from another house in Barangay Handumanan through a search warrant.
Josol said the suspects’ modus operandi involved offering call center jobs or recruiting models for photoshoots.
The victims were allegedly coerced into participating in a scam targeting foreign clients on a dating site using pornographic images of the models.
An investigation is ongoing to determine the scope and organization of the operation with Josol calling their arrest a significant step forward in combating human trafficking.