Philippine Senator: Chinese mafia pressuring Filipinos to work for crypto scams

The official claims that the organized crime gangs target both those who are scammed and those who are trafficked.

Philippines Senator Risa Hontiveros announced on November 21 during a government plenary meeting that twelve Filipinos had been saved from a cryptocurrency scam allegedly run by the Chinese mafia in Myanmar.

Hontiveros claimed that a reported Chinese organized crime gang forced the 12 Filipinos who were saved by a network of nongovernmental organizations to make contact with people online and persuade them to invest in phony cryptocurrency sites.

According to reports, the Filipinos were recruited in Thailand for call center and offshore gaming operator jobs as victims of human trafficking.

The Senator claimed that after being seduced, the Chinese mobsters forced them to work for their scam network in Myanmar.

According to a report by the France-based blockchain security network Nefture, such scams, also known as “pig-butchering,” compel thousands of victims of human trafficking to work in their scam centers under the threat of violence.

The dating app Tinder, Facebook, WhatsApp, and other social media platforms are used to build relationships with potential victims after they have been trafficked, according to Nefture.

The high levels of English proficiency among Filipino citizens, which enable them to con a wider range of targets, chair of the women, children, family relations, and gender equality committee of the Philippine Senate, has led to an increase in the number of trafficking victims among this population, according to Hontiveros.

According to the Senator, failure to complete the fraud would result in food shortages, being sold to another company, and threats to their lives.