MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Wednesday warned job seekers to beware of people who claim to offer work overseas on social media.
This came after the BI took notice of a female worker on Monday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport who was deceived by an alleged immigration employee promising to escort her to the airport.
According to the 27-year-old victim, who was given the alias “Ria,” she was bound for Taiwan as a tourist, but inspectors saw inconsistencies in her documents. She then admitted that she was going to Albania to work for an electric company.
Ria said that she was offered escorting services to the airport for P120,000, with which she managed to haggle down to P80,000, including her plane tickets. When she arrived at the airport, her escort, who introduced herself as an immigration employee, asked for P77,000 in fees, to which she only paid P67,000, the BI said.
When BI officials took her for a secondary inspection, Ria sent a message to her escort, who told her that it was part of the process.
The BI added that it had referred Ria to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking to find her recruiters.
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BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that these recruiters will often use methods to get money from Filipinos who want to find work outside the country, but will leave their victims in the end.
“These recruiters will sweet talk you into giving your hard-earned money to them. […] In many cases, they will promise you assistance, only to leave you hanging at the end,” he said
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