THE Bureau of Immigration on Wednesday warned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) not to entertain strangers offering high-paying overseas jobs as call center agents, as this was likely another recruitment scam.
In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the recruiters would only “make your lives miserable at the expense of your families who depend on you for financial support.”
He issued the warning in response to reports about a female OFW recently repatriated from Laos where she worked in a “love scam” of a cybercrime syndicate without getting paid.
The unidentified OFW had been working in Bahrain as a legitimate domestic household worker for one year and eight months when she was approached by a stranger who offered her a job as a call center agent in Thailand for a P50,000 monthly pay.
The offer was made during the victim’s layover on a return flight to Manila at the Dubai airport.
“Lured by the promise of a high paying job, the victim accepted the stranger’s offer and joined the latter in flying to Bangkok instead of going home to the Philippines,” Tansingco said.
But upon arriving in the Thai capital, she was taken to Chiang Rai province in Thailand and transported by boat going to nearby Laos.
The OFW ran away and sought the assistance of the Philippine embassy in Vientiane, the BI chief said.
