The testimony of the young man recruited through a job offer on Facebook was released today during a hearing in the Philippine Senate. They denounce the ease with which immigration offices issue entry visas. Some 1,000 Southeast Asians are reportedly crammed into a building in Paranaque, not far from the airport.
In Manila they were received by who Ridaw thought was an employee of the company that had just hired him and who had received the selfie that he had sent him a few hours earlier on Telegram. Passing through the airport visa office, which asked no questions, Ridaw and the other two Indonesians were taken to the Bayport West NAIA Garden Residences, where they met a few hundred Indonesians, as well as people of other nationalities, mainly Africans and Chinese as supervisors. According to the testimony, the contract with “the company” was signed under pressure and once inside the apartment complex, the Indonesians were taught to create fake women’s accounts with which to scam other people on Tinder, Facebook or Instagram. “After our target fell in love with us,” Ridaw said, “we made him invest in cryptocurrencies. If we didn’t recruit victims, they punished us. My impression is that many employees had their salaries withheld. Our salary was supposed to be 80,000 pesos (1,300 euros) a month, but the employee before me kept asking me for instant noodles or cigarettes.” Punishment could also be corporal, Ridaw continued.
The Indonesian was quick to decide to leave: after reimbursing the supervisor 100,000 Philippine pesos, he managed to leave the country on March 16. The statement he made at the Philippine embassy in Jakarta was handed over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Senator Hontiveros denounced the lightness of the immigration offices when it comes to investigating the reasons for entry into the Philippines, while Filipino citizens are asked many more questions to prevent human trafficking: “I ask the NBI and the Police “There is no time to waste. Foreigners are easily entering the country with the help of unscrupulous airport or immigration officials every day. This is a serious national security issue that we must urgently address,” he said. the senator stated. In addition, he pointed out that the Parañaque housing complex also houses citizens of Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, countries where the trafficking of workers forced to work in Internet scams is widespread, often after having their passports taken away and in conditions of modern slavery.
