MANILA, Philippines — At least four trafficking victims attempting to evade immigration clearance with fake departure stamps have been reported in a day, the Bureau of Immigrations said Tuesday.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco has reported an increase in cases involving the use of fake immigration stamps by criminal syndicates in the country.
Operatives at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 intercepted a 40-year-old man on August 31 attempting to board a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong with a passport bearing a suspicious immigration departure stamp.
The man admitted that a female recruiter he met on Facebook had offered him a job. She allegedly demanded P120,000 as a processing fee, assuring him that he could bypass immigration without detection.
Later that evening, BI officers prevented three more individuals—a 32-year-old woman, a 27-year-old woman, and a 24-year-old man—from boarding a Jetstar flight to Singapore due to suspicious stamps in their passports. The trio initially claimed to be friends traveling to Cambodia for leisure, but later confessed they were recruited to work as call center agents, with the promise of a P50,000 salary for a 12-hour shift.
Tansingco said that these victims were recruited to work in scam operations abroad disguised as call centers.
“Similar to the previous schemes, recruiters directed their victims to meet a supposed contact at a fast food chain inside NAIA Terminal 3. This contact would typically take the victims’ passports and boarding passes, then return them with counterfeit stamps,” said Tansingco in an incident report.
More than 125 Filipinos were repatriated last month after falling victim to an illegal cyber scam operation in Laos. Reports indicate that many of them were lured by the promise of call center jobs, only to find themselves working for a scam network once they arrived.
Tansingco likewise said that he is “concerned” over the recent interceptions at NAIA, noting that illegal syndicates offering fake documentation at the airport are once again active.
These syndicates prey on people with false promises of better opportunities, he said.
According to the official, the four victims have been handed over to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking. An investigation is currently underway to apprehend their recruiters and pursue legal action.
