Filipino trafficking victims, who were forced to work in scam hubs in Cambodia, were found to have been "sold" or "transferred" to other criminal syndicates, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Sunday, April 27.

“They were treated like property -- bought, sold, and abused,” said BI Commissioner Joel Anthony M. Viado in a statement.

Viado said this sale or transfer of victims was revealed by several Filipino trafficking victims who returned to the Philippines last April 19 after being repatriated from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“Their stories are clear proof that these syndicates operate with no regard for human dignity. This must stop,” Viado stressed. 

The BI had earlier said that "the victims were recruited through Facebook job ads promising high-paying work as encoders and customer service staff.”

“Once overseas, their passports were confiscated and they were forced to work in online fraud operations -- posing as FBI agents or romantic partners on dating platforms to scam foreign nationals,” the BI said.

“When they failed to meet targets, they were punished, overworked, and eventually sold or ‘transferred’ to other syndicates as if they were commodities,” it also said. 

The BI said the bureau said one of the victims recounted undergoing “16- to 20-hour workdays, threats of detention, and physical punishments.”

It also said that another victim disclosed that “they escaped only after being handed over to a new group due to poor performance.”

Viado urged jobseekers seeking work abroad “to avoid illegal offers online.”

“Always go through the Department of Migrant Workers,” he advised.