10 more trafficked Filipinos repatriated from Cambodia —DFA

Ten more Filipinos who were brought to Cambodia and made to work for online scams have been rescued and repatriated, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Sunday.

In a press release, the DFA confirmed that 10 Filipinos safely returned to the Philippines earlier on Sunday from Cambodia and received assistance from agencies including the DFA, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) the Overseas Welfare Workers Administration (OWWA), and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT).

The victims were rescued from Oddar Meanchey province on Saturday and made the nine-hour trip to Phnom Penh, where the Philippine Embassy provided them with hot meals and care packages. The DFA also said the Filipinos' rescue made possible by the long-standing ties between the two nations.

Scam centers, particularly those in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, run illegal online schemes to defraud people. In addition to luring victims online into making fraudulent investments, these centers also traffic people including those from nearby countries and make them work in compounds to run the scams.

"The entire Philippine Foreign Service renews its call for the Filipino public to heed the Embassy’s Advisory No. 09-2025 on deceptive overseas job opportunities peddled on social media, which could bring miserable, even harmful outcomes in some cases," the DFA said. — BM, GMA Integrated News