MANILA – Two Filipino senators have asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to ban online gambling firms in the Philippines, following last week’s raid of a licensed offshore gaming operator suspected to be involved in a large-scale human trafficking scheme.
At least four Singaporeans were among the nearly 3,000 Filipino and foreign nationals rescued by local police in the compound of Xinchuang Network Technology Inc in Las Piñas City, south of the capital Manila, on June 27.
Xinchuang is a licensed Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO), but authorities suspect its online gambling operations are a front for alleged cryptocurrency and love scams that exploited human trafficking victims. Xinchuang has denied this allegation.
“Marcos should ban POGOs now. Not only have POGOs made our country a playground for their criminal activities, they also owe our government money in billions of unpaid taxes,” Senator Risa Hontiveros told The Straits Times.
Since late 2022, Senators Hontiveros and Win Gatchalian have been leading a Senate probe into cryptocurrency scam hubs in South-east Asian countries like Cambodia and Myanmar that have been duping migrant Filipino workers to join the scams.
The senators later found that such operations have reached the Philippines as well.
In May, they learnt that registered POGO Sun Valley Hub was running a cryptocurrency scam hub at Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, a province north of Manila. A freeport zone official later admitted this was a “failure of intelligence”.
Victims were initially recruited through social media to work either as call centre agents or POGO workers. Once they reach their country of destination, the victims were allegedly forced by a “Chinese mafia” to work for their cryptocurrency scheme, said Ms Hontiveros.
They were trained to create fake social media accounts using photos stolen from young women who appear smart and successful. The victims were ordered to develop an online romantic relationship with their male targets on various social media platforms.
Once the targets fall in love with their online persona, the victims must convince the targets to invest in cryptocurrency.
Both Senators Hontiveros and Gatchalian found parallels in the operations of Xinchuang and Sun Valley Hub.
Mr Gatchalian also raised concerns that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, which issues licences for POGOs, were unaware of the illegal activities despite its mandate to regularly conduct inspections.
“Worse, Xinchuang Network Technology Inc had already been involved in criminal activities in the past. This proves that POGOs are clearly a scourge in our society and we must stop them now,” he said in a statement.