Scam hubs hide under POGO licenses, says Hontiveros

Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday said the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) allegedly give a “legal layer” to hubs that operate cryptocurrency investment scams in the country.

During the hearing of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality on human trafficking, Hontiveros showed clips of her visit at the Clark Sun Valley in Mabalacat City, Pampanga, which was raided by police on May 5.

More than 1,000 nationals from the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Nepal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Taiwan, among others, allegedly forced to work for cyber fraud were rescued in the operation.

“Sa unang tingin, mukhang mga call center lang ang mga opisinang ito. However, a closer scrutiny will reveal the nefarious schemes that are perpetrated here. Dito sa mga desk na pinapakita sa videos na ito nagta-trabaho ang mga trafficked nationals…at ang ginagawa nila araw-araw ay mag-paibig ng mga foreigner, kadalasan mga lalaki, at matapos nito ay pilitin silang mag-invest sa cryptocurrency,” Hontiveros said.

(At first glance, these offices look like call centers. However, a closer scrutiny will reveal the nefarious schemes that are perpetrated here. Those desks are where the trafficked nationals work...and what they do every day is to seduce foreigners, usually men, and then force them to invest in cryptocurrency.)

In the video, a certain John, who was working at the Clark Sun Valley, told Hontiveros that they were being brought to a “dark room,” also called a  “meditation room,” whenever they could not find a customer, had infractions, or wanted to resign.

The trafficked victims were then locked in the room for three days without a bed or chair, and only a cup noodle and a small bottle of water given to them for an entire day.

“They will say, ‘Now you still want to work or do you want to go back?’ If we say we want to go back, I think they’d still keep us here until we change our mind,” John said.

Hontiveros said she found out from the case of Clark Sun Valley that scam hubs hide under the licenses of POGOs.

“This actually validates what was said by our expert resource person, Dr. Alvin Camba, that POGOs provide a ‘legal layer’ to these hubs and the operations of these hubs remain beyond regulatory scrutiny,” she added.

Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty, who represents the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), backed this, explaining that among the modus of these scam hubs is being registered as a “legitimate” POGO business or a service provider for POGOs.

“The establishment is usually registered as a legitimate POGO business or a service provider for POGOs, but it is only partially involved in online cryptocurrency scamming,” he said.

Workers in the scam hubs are also hired through online job postings, mostly on Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp. They are recruited as call center agents and are promised high salary and good working conditions, “but it turns out they are forced to engage in criminal activities such as scamming,” he added.

Hontiveros also bared that the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) was able to seize hundreds of millions of pesos in cold cash from vaults in the building.

“A total of 42 vaults [from] two offices—office 1 and office 2… Estimated at P187 million,” PNP-ACG investigation division chief Police Colonel Alejandrea Silvio told Hontiveros in the video.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla earlier said the government may choose to either deport or file charges against the 12 individuals involved in the alleged human trafficking in Clark.

He confirmed that most of the 12 individuals were foreign nationals. They were earlier brought to the Department of Justice for inquest proceedings.

Ty said that 10 foreign nationals—seven Chinese, two Indonesians, and one Malaysian—are under the custody of the PNP-ACG headquarters.

Meanwhile, 19 foreign nationals and two Filipinos were convinced by the DOJ to act as witnesses. They are currently under the custody of IACAT TIP Center and are for endorsement to the Witness Protection Program.

PAGCOR not doing its job?

In the same hearing, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian slammed the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) for allegedly being corrupt after it failed to inspect the POGO hub in Clark.

According to PAGCOR, there are two accredited POGO hubs in the country—one is the Clark Sun Valley, and the other is the First Orient International Ventures Corporation in Cavite.

These POGO hubs, which provisional accreditation started in 2019, are supposed to undergo inspection twice a week and host law enforcement offices within their premises. 

Asked why over a thousand of trafficking victims were rescued in Clark despite PAGCOR claiming it was being inspected twice a week, PAGCOR’s senior vice president for security and monitoring cluster Raul Villanueva said, “Apparently, there is some problem with our monitoring team.”

“Palagay ko kasi very sophisticated na rin ang mga syndicates ngayon (I think the syndicates are also very sophisticated today),” he added.

Gatchalian then said PAGCOR is not doing its job properly and its inspectors may be corrupt for failing to detect that the POGO hub in Clark was being used for love scamming.

“To be honest about it, this brings international shame to us. The Philippines is becoming a scam hub…POGO is being used as front for scams, POGO is being used as front for human trafficking because PAGCOR is corrupt and not doing its job. That's the bottom line. Pinaglololoko ninyo kami. Imposible na if twice a week ang inspection, impossible na hindi ninyo makikita ‘yan,” he added.

(You are fooling us. It's impossible that if the inspection is conducted twice a week, you would not be able to see the trafficked victims.)

Clark firms deny allegations

Two companies based in the Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ), meanwhile, denied involvement in the alleged love scam and trafficking of foreign nationals.

In a statement, Sun Valley Clark Hub Corporation (SVCHC) said it is a licensed locator inside CSEZ under the business of leasing office spaces and dormitories.

“SVCHC, as a real estate company, is not in any way connected or involved in operating online gaming or call center services,” it stressed.

According to SVCHC, the Colorful and Leap Group identified by authorities as the love scam operator is one of the sub-lessees of CGC Technologies, Inc. whose lease agreement with SVCHC is duly-registered with Clark Development Corporation.

Meanwhile, CGC Technologies, Inc. said the company merely subleased its offices to Colorful and Leap Group which originally presented itself as a gaming service provider.—AOL, GMA Integrated News