2 Malaysians in Bacolod love scam, trafficking case undocumented – CIDG

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Police say the Malaysian suspects lured young women in Bacolod with modeling jobs but later used them for online scams, targeting European and American clients

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Philippines – Two Malaysians arrested in Bacolod on Thursday, March 27, for love scam operations and qualified human trafficking turned out to be undocumented and overstaying, police said.

Major Justin Noel Josol, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Bacolod, told Rappler on Monday, March 31, that both suspects, identified only as Sam Phon and a certain Abao, neither had passports nor any document to justify their presence in Bacolod.

Josol said the CIDG checked with the immigration bureau, and it was confirmed that the suspects were illegally staying in the country.

Phon, 60, had been staying in Bacolod, particularly at Henrietta Village, Barangay Singcang-Airport, for 10 years, according to a CIDG-Bacolod report.

He was already well-versed in speaking a local dialect, Hiligaynon.

Abao, who is in his late twenties and is Phon’s nephew, had been in the city for just over a year.

The CIDG arrested the two at their rented house, where authorities confirmed they were running a love scam operation. 

They lured young women in Bacolod with modeling jobs but later used them for online scams, primarily targeting European and American clients, Josol said.

Police said the two foreigners also hired more than 100 Bacolodn̈os as virtual assistants or call center agents, some in a work-from-home setup, but still working for the love scam operation.

Seven Bacolod workers, both men and women, were “rescued” during the raid by CIDG-Bacolod operatives, together with agents from the Bureau if Immigration, Department of Justice, and Bacolod Police Station 8. The workers alleged that they had been duped by the suspects.

Police seized several laptops, cellular phones, and other gadgets serving as evidence in the alleged love scam operations.

Josol told a press conference on Friday, March 28, that authorities spent more than a month conducting surveillance and building a case against the two Malaysians, following a complaint from one of their alleged victims involving a love scam and human trafficking.

Judge Phoebe Gargantiel-Balbin of the Bacolod Regional Trial Court Branch 45 granted search warrants for three houses in barangays Singcang-Airport and Handuman, where the suspects were allegedly running their operation.

Only one house in Singcang-Airport yielded evidence based on the warrants issued.

The suspects, now detained at CIDG-Bacolod headquarters, have been charged with violating qualified human trafficking before the Bacolod City Prosecutor’s Office on Friday. Qualified human trafficking is a non-bailable offense and punishable by life imprisonment if the accused are found guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

CIDG-Bacolod, meanwhile, called on more victims to come forward and serve as witnesses in the case.

Authorities said they were also working to identify those backing the two foreigners and other locations that may be linked to their operations.

“What they (suspects) are doing here in Bacolod is a sort of an organized crime with international backup, also from a foreign group,” Josol said.

The suspects refused to be interviewed but said they had already hired a lawyer to defend them in court. – Rappler.com