The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday warned Filipinos in Hawaii and American Samoa against being duped by a criminal syndicate who ostensibly offer jobs as call center agents in Southeast Asia, might end up as crypto scammers.
The DFA through the Philippine Embassy in Honolulu raised the warning for those under its jurisdiction, noting that some “Filipino victims are enticed” by these “spurious job offers.”
“Once they are recruited, the Filipino victims are issued tickets to fly to a Southeast Asian country, from which they are taken to adjacent countries and brought to remote areas,” the embassy said.
The embassy said the recruits “forced to work as online scammers engaged in cryptocurrency” and others.
The embassy also said the victims usually experience many forms of abuse, including physical and psychological abuse, prolonged working hours under difficult work conditions, non-payment of wages and confiscation of passports and devices.
Some are even held hostage, demanded to pay an exorbitant amount in exchange for freedom, and worse, amputation and death, the embassy added.
It also feared of some victims being sold by syndicates to be engaged in other forms of slavery, including sexual slavery.
It can be recalled that the DFA rescued a number of Filipinos from Myanmar and Cambodia who were victimized by such syndicates.