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Friday, March 29, 2024

Hontiveros warns of cryptocurrency scam hubs proliferating in PH

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Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday warned the public against a notorious cryptocurrency scam known as “pig butchering,” noting that many of its operations are also in the Philippines.

“Pig butchering” is basically a scam targeting people who want to make money on the cryptocurrency market. Hontiveros also warned that this scam uses “scam” call centers that employ foreigners trafficked into the country.

Hontiveros bared that victims were forced to participate in a slew of fraudulent rackets including dating, investment, identity, and cryptocurrency scams, to name a few.

“The Philippines should not be used as a petri dish for human trafficking. If scam hubs in Cambodia and Myanmar are in remote areas, scam hubs in the Philippines are in the capital,” she said.

She also called on social media companies to immediately take down and keep out dubious job ads that lead to these scam operations, emphasizing that there may still be active ads targeting job seekers to work in these fraud factories.

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She stressed that large condominium buildings are being repurposed as living and working facilities for trafficked human beings forced to perform scams on hapless victims.

During the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality hearing,  Hontiveros said that these trafficked victims, numbering in the hundreds and perhaps even in the thousands, are from Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Indonesia.

There are also trafficked victims coming from Africa, and South Asia, the lawmaker said.

Last year, Hontiveros exposed a large-scale human trafficking operation that targeted Filipinos looking for jobs abroad.

“A humanitarian crisis is taking shape. A mass of desperate humanity. Human beings of the world are being hurt, abused, and used in order to perpetrate fraud. Nananakit ng kapwa para manloko ng kapwa,” the senator said.

In the hearing, “Ridwan” (not his real name), an Indonesian national, said he was tricked and trafficked into the country to work as a scammer.

Ridwan shared that he applied for a digital marketing role in the Philippines, but later discovered that the job was actually to scam fellow Indonesians to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency investments.

Upon arriving in the Philippines on March 7, Ridwan was greeted by an escort who helped him and two other Indonesians seamlessly pass
through the Bureau of Quarantine and the Philippine immigration counters. After which, a driver brought them to Bayport West NAIA
Garden Residences in Pasay City.

“We were instructed to steal the identities of other people to scam targets. Our targets are our fellow Indonesians. We find them on
Tinder, Facebook, and Instagram. After our targets fall in love with us, we make them invest in cryptocurrency. When we do not get victims,
we will get punished,” Ridwan shared.

After learning about the electrocution and punishment experienced by other employees who were not able to successfully scam, he wanted to
leave. He was then told he needed to pay the P100,000 that the company spent to bring him to the Philippines. He left the premises on March
13.

“The Philippines should not be used as a petri dish for human trafficking. “

The senator then called on social media companies to immediately take down and keep out dubious job ads that lead to these scam operations,
emphasizing that there may still be Facebook ads targeting nationals from Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Africa to work in these fraud
factories in the Philippines. Ridwan himself found the job in a Facebook ad.

“It is frightening that these criminal activities have been made easy by social media platforms. But it is even more frightening to hear how
effortless foreigners can get into the country, with the aid of unscrupulous airport or immigration officials. This is a serious national security concern that we must urgently address. We cannot allow these syndicates to turn our country into outlaw territory,” Hontiveros concluded.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chairperson of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, exposes “scam hubs” operating in
the Philippines that allegedly are part of a global human trafficking ring that victimize Filipinos and foreigners from Asia and Africa.

During the public hearing Wednesday, April 19, 2023, Hontiveros bared that victims were forced to participate in a slew of fraudulent
rackets including dating, investment, identity and cryptocurrency scams, to name a few. “The Philippines should not be used as a petri dish for human trafficking. If scam hubs in Cambodia and Myanmar are in remote areas, scam hubs in the Philippines are in the capital,” the
deputy minority leader said. Also, Hontiveros called on social media companies to immediately take down and keep out dubious job ads that
lead to these scam operations, emphasizing that there may still be active ads targeting job seekers to work in these fraud factories.

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