Global Courant
MANILA — Two Philippine senators have elected President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. asked to ban online gambling companies in the Philippines, following last week’s raid on a licensed offshore gambling operator suspected of being involved in a large-scale human trafficking scheme.
At least four Singaporeans were among nearly 3,000 Filipino and foreign nationals rescued by local police on June 27 at the Xinchuang Network Technology Inc property in Las Pinas City, south of the capital Manila.
Xinchuang is a licensed Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo), but authorities suspect its online gambling activities are a cover for alleged cryptocurrency and love scams that exploited human trafficking victims. Xinchuang has denied this claim.
“Marcos should ban Pogos now. Not only have Pogos turned our country into a playground for their criminal activities, they also owe our government billions in unpaid taxes,” Senator Risa Hontiveros told The Straits Times.
Since late 2022, Senators Hontiveros and Win Gatchalian have been leading a Senate investigation into cryptocurrency scam hubs in Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia and Myanmar that have tricked Philippine migrant workers into joining the scam.
The senators later learned that such operations have also reached the Philippines.
In May, they found out that registered Pogo Sun Valley Hub was running a cryptocurrency scam hub in Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, a province north of Manila. A Free Port Zone official later admitted that this was an “intelligence failure”.
Victims were initially recruited through social media to work as call center employees or Pogo employees. Once they reached their destination country, they were allegedly forced by a “Chinese mafia” to work for their cryptocurrency scheme, Ms. Hontiveros said.
They were trained to create fake social media accounts with photos stolen of young women who looked smart and successful. The victims were then instructed to enter into an online romantic relationship with their male targets on various social media platforms.
Once the targets fell in love with their online persona, the victims would convince the targets to invest in cryptocurrency.
Both Senators Hontiveros and Gatchalian found parallels in the Xinchuang and Sun Valley Hub operations.
Mr. Gatchalian also expressed concern that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, which licenses Pogos, was unaware of the illegal activities despite its mandate to conduct regular inspections.
“Worse, Xinchuang Network Technology Inc has 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.
