BI warns Pinoys vs 'love scam' job offers abroad

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has warned the public against ''love scam'' job offers abroad.

This developed after the BI recently rescued and repatriated a 24-year-old Filipino from Cambodia, who was lured into working in a “love scam” hub in Phnom Penh despite being promised a position as a customer service representative in an online betting company.

According to the victim, he received the job offer from a former colleague. He was instructed to fly to Taiwan before taking a subsequent flight to Cambodia.

Upon arrival, the victim said his employer required him to contact American citizens via social media platforms and dating applications, initiating contact under the pretense of a mistakenly sent ''wrong message'' text.

He would then engage in flirtatious exchanges with the unsuspecting targets before introducing them to the company’s investment platform. He managed at least three fake female profiles and communicated with the target victims through chat and video calls. For video calls, he would use the same photos in the fraudulent profiles to interact with the victims.

If he failed to meet performance expectations and the grueling 15-hour work shifts, the victim said his employer would tap his head with force or activate stun batons near him to intimidate and instill fear.

“These aren’t just your run-of-the-mill online scams—we’re talking about full-blown operations linked to human trafficking,” said BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado in a press statement.

“Victims aren’t just losing money; they’re being thrown to do shady deals,” he said.

The victim returned to the Philippines on July 13 after a rescue operation coordinated with the Philippine Embassy in Cambodia.

Viado said the BI is closely monitoring the situation and has passed all gathered intel to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking to investigate the recruiters and anyone linked to the victims’ illegal deployment. —VBL, GMA Integrated News