Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 5) — Authorities said on Friday they rescued around 1,000 human trafficking victims of various nationalities in Clark, Pampanga, who were supposedly forced to work as cyber scammers.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) conducted the joint operation with various government agencies in the Clark Free Port Zone.
\”This is a case of human trafficking and we are still processing everything,\” the PNP said in a statement.
\”All victims will remain here while waiting for their embassy to process their papers back to their country,\” it added.
In January, Sen. Risa Hontiveros exposed that human trafficking syndicates are luring Filipinos to work as crypto scammers in Cambodia. The Bureau of Immigration said Filipinos are baited through social media applications.
This came after her disclosure in November last year of activities of Chinese syndicates allegedly employing Filipinos for shady call center work.
In April, she also said the Philippines is hosting scam hubs operated by trafficked foreign nationals forced to swindle other people.
