PHILIPPINE authorities seized more than 250 people, most of whom were Chinese, during a raid on a suspected online scam farm in Manila, law enforcement officials said Friday.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission reported that police and other officials searched the office building late Thursday and discovered hundreds of phones, personal computers, and pre-registered international and local SIM cards within the workforce.
“These are red flags of love scamming that victimizes foreign nationals,” the commission said in a statement, alluding to schemes in which scammers pretend to have romantic affections for their victims to gain their trust and then take their money.
International concern has grown about similar scam farms in Asia, which are frequently operated by victims of trafficking who have been duped or coerced into pushing bogus cryptocurrency investments and other schemes.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. barred all sorts of offshore gaming operators, including those with online gaming licenses, in July after the gambling sector was linked to financial fraud, kidnapping, prostitution, human trafficking, torture, and murder.
Thousands of foreign workers at illegal businesses were given two months to depart the Philippines.
In the Manila raid on Thursday, 190 Chinese, two Taiwanese, and 62 Filipinos were taken into custody at the offices of 3D Analyzer Information Technologies Inc.
Gilberto Cruz, executive head of the anti-crime commission, told Agence France Presse that the company used to hold an internet gaming license but later informed regulators that it “ceased operations.”
“We’re looking for their passports or working visas, but they couldn’t show us anything,” he said.
According to the official, the commission would work with the missions in Beijing and Taipei to find and deport the foreigners.
Meanwhile, Filipinos who are proven to be engaging in scamming operations will face court charges, he said.
Cruz stated that the commission would also seek court orders to search computers seized within the office.