MANILA: Hundreds of people forced to work in an online scam centre in the Philippines were rescued in a raid on Thursday that also saw eight suspects arrested, according to police.
Acting on a tip from a Vietnamese man who alleged to have escaped the sprawling compound north of capital Manila, police said they unmasked an operation where suspected victims of human trafficking were forced into conducting various online scams.“The rescued workers told us engages in love scams, romance scam, cryptocurrency scams and other scam activities,” said Gilberto Cruz, executive director of the crime task force that led the pre-dawn raid.SPONSORED CONTENT Sabah revenue hits RM6.
The scam industry is raking in unprecedented sums, the equivalent of billions of dollars, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.Victims have reported travelling across the region, often on the pretence of romance or high-paying jobs but finding themselves forced instead to cajole people into ploughing money into fake investment platforms and other ruses.
At the centre, a complex of 36 office buildings and dormitories, the victims were engaged in various online scams under threat of physical harm or other punishment, the authorities said. Reached for comment, a mission spokesman told AFP the request will be relayed to the Chinese authorities.