MANILA
\nPhilippine authorities have detained more than 2,700 people during a raid on several buildings in Manila where alleged trafficking victims were paid to recruit players for online games, police said Tuesday.
\nChinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Malaysian, Pakistani, Cameroonian, Sudanese, Myanmar and Philippine nationals were among the people found inside a compound in the capital on Monday night.
\nAuthorities were interviewing 2,724 detainees to identify who was a victim or suspect, said police Captain Michelle Sabino, a spokeswoman for the anti-cybercrime unit. More than 1,500 were Filipinos.
\nInternational concern has been growing over Internet scams in the Asia-Pacific region, often staffed by trafficking victims tricked or coerced into promoting bogus crypto investments.
\nSabino said the alleged trafficking victims had accepted jobs posted on Facebook to work in the Philippines \u201cto find players\u201d for online games.
\nMany of them were forced to work 12-hour shifts every day for as little as 24,000 pesos ($433) a month, and were prevented from leaving the compound, she said.
\nSabino described it as the \u201cbiggest ever\u201d anti-trafficking raid in the Philippines.
\nAFP journalists at the scene on Tuesday saw two police buses and two police trucks parked outside the compound. They were not allowed to enter the buildings.
\nSabino said \u201ceverything will be investigated,\u201d including whether the workers were involved in online rackets.
\nIn May, authorities rescued more than a thousand people from several Asian nations who had been trafficked into the Philippines, held captive and forced to run online scams.
\nThe International Organization for Migration said victims were often ensnared by traffickers with the prospect of \u201cbetter jobs with high salaries and enticing perks.\u201d
\n\u201cOne very noticeable aspect in these online scams, which is different to other forms of trafficking, is that education offers no immunity as we have seen even well-educated professionals become victims,\u201d Itayi Viriri, IOM senior regional spokesman for Asia-Pacific, said.
\nViriri said victims were typically \u201ctrapped in a world of exploitation where they endure abuse, confiscation of travel documents, and isolation from their peers.\u201d
\n\u201cWe therefore commend the actions taken by the Philippines authorities to intervene as it is clear that victims are basically hostages to their traffickers and as such rely on external intervention to break free from their captors,\u201d Viriri said.
\nPhilippine senator Risa Hontiveros recently warned that \u201cscam call centers\u201d were operating in the Philippines and employing foreigners trafficked into the country.
\nIn its 2023 human trafficking report, the US State Department said the Philippines \u201cdid not vigorously investigate or prosecute labor trafficking crimes that occurred within\u201d the country.
\n\u201cCorruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANILA Philippine authorities have detained more than 2,700 people during a raid on several buildings in Manila where alleged trafficking victims were paid to recruit players for online games, police said Tuesday. Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Malaysian, Pakistani, Cameroonian, Sudanese, Myanmar and Philippine nationals were among the people found inside a compound in the capital […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-340271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n