Hundreds rescued from love scam centre in the Philippines - BBC News

Young and tech-savvy victims are trapped and then forced into running illegal operations online.

5 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime CommissionImage caption, Police rescued hundreds of victims from the centre in Bamban, about 100km north of capital ManilaBy Virma Simonette & Kelly Ngin Manila and SingaporeHundreds of people have been rescued from a scam centre in the Philippines that made them pose as lovers online.

Police said they raided the centre on Thursday and rescued 383 Filipinos, 202 Chinese and 73 other foreign nationals.

The centre, which is about 100km north of Manila, was masquerading as an online gambling firm, they said.

South East Asia has become a hub for scam centres where the scammers themselves are often entrapped and forced into criminal activity.

Young and tech-savvy victims are often lured into running these illegal operations, which range from money laundering and crypto fraud to so-called love scams. The latter are also known as "pig butchering" scams, named after the farming practice of fattening pigs before slaughtering them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68562643

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