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Chinese crypto scams targeting Filipinos to work for them: official

Published

2 years ago

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by Mikhail Flores

Chinese criminals running cryptocurrency scams in Southeast Asia are targeting Filipinos to work for them because of their English language and computer skills, a Philippine foreign ministry official said Monday.

Filipinos were “prized” targets for scam networks operating in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, said Eduardo de Vega, acting undersecretary for migrant workers affairs at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

De Vega said efforts to repatriate Filipinos sucked into the scam activities were ongoing, with more than 100 brought home since last year.

The latest group arrived in Manila on Monday. Four men, all in their 30s, had been trafficked into Myanmar for “less than two months” where they were held in compounds, de Vega told AFP.

The men were in Dubai when they were recruited online to work as “customer support representatives” in Thailand, the ministry said.

When they arrived in Bangkok, they were taken to the western Thai city of Mae Sot and ferried across the border into Myanmar “rebel territory”, de Vega said.

There they were “forced to trick individuals into investing in cryptocurrency”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Myanmar’s rugged borderlands are home to a patchwork of ethnic rebel groups and military-aligned militia that have fought each other for decades over territory, lucrative timber and jade resources, and the drug trade.

Typically, Filipino recruits would pretend to be women and develop online relationships with their targets, usually a Westerner, de Vega said.

They receive a wage and get a share of the profits, but are subjected to “corporal punishment” if they do not scam enough people, he said.

Four Filipino women in their 20s, who were detained in Myanmar for illegally entering the country from Thailand a few weeks ago, also returned to Manila on Monday.

They had claimed to be tourists, de Vega said.

Around 50 to 70 Filipinos are believed to be still working for Chinese scammers operating in Myanmar, he added.

There were another 50 Filipinos working for cryptocurrency scams in Cambodia and 50 in Laos, de Vega estimated.

He said “at least 119” Filipinos had been brought home since last year.

“We are slowly repatriating them, but some are not asking to be repatriated,” de Vega said.

“But if there’s a relative who contacts us with an SOS, we’ll do it.”

An AFP report last year found people from around Asia — including from Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh and India — have been pulled into similar operations in Cambodia, some trafficked and beaten by scam operators.

De Vega said the Philippine government had repeatedly warned Filipinos against bypassing official employment channels when looking for work abroad.

“We have to stop these Filipinos that get tricked,” de Vega said.

“It’s not true that you can arrive as a tourist and then get work… if they ask for computer experts or customer service, you’ll probably be asked to be a scammer.”

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore hangs 14th drug convict since last year

Singapore executed Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted of drug trafficking, amid a resumption of executions in 2022. Another woman prisoner, Saridewi Djamani, faces execution.

Amnesty International urged Singapore to halt the executions, questioning the deterrent effect of the death penalty.

Published

1 year ago

on

26 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday hanged a local man convicted of drug trafficking, officials said, two days before the scheduled execution of the first woman prisoner in the city-state in nearly 20 years.

Mohd Aziz bin Hussain, convicted and sentenced to death in 2017 for trafficking “not less than 49.98 grams” (1.76 ounces) of heroin, was executed at Changi Prison, the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

The 57-year-old was the 14th convict sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hussain’s previous appeals against his conviction and sentence had been dismissed, and a petition for presidential clemency was also denied.

A woman drug convict, 45-year-old Saridewi Djamani, is scheduled to be hanged on Friday, according to the local rights group Transformative Justice Collective (TJC).

She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, Djamani would be the first woman executed in Singapore since 2004, when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, according to TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws — trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis or over 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the executions, saying there was no evidence the death penalty acted as a deterrent to crime.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

Singapore, however, insists that the death penalty has helped make it one of Asia’s safest countries.

Among those hanged since last year was Nagaenthran K. Dharmalingam, whose execution sparked a global outcry, including from the United Nations and British tycoon Richard Branson, because he was deemed to have a mental disability.

— AFP

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AFP

Singapore to execute first woman in nearly 20 years: rights groups

Singapore set to execute two drug convicts, including first woman in 20 years, despite rights groups’ calls to stop.

Published

1 year ago

on

25 July 2023

By

SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE — Singapore is set to hang two drug convicts this week, including the first woman to be sent to the gallows in nearly 20 years, rights groups said Tuesday, while urging the executions be halted.

Local rights organisation Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) said a 56-year-old man convicted of trafficking 50 grams (1.76 ounces) of heroin is scheduled to be hanged on Wednesday at the Southeast Asian city-state’s Changi Prison.

A 45-year-old woman convict who TJC identified as Saridewi Djamani is also set to be sent to the gallows on Friday. She was sentenced to death in 2018 for trafficking around 30 grams of heroin.

If carried out, she would be the first woman to be executed in Singapore since 2004 when 36-year-old hairdresser Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, said TJC activist Kokila Annamalai.

TJC said the two prisoners are Singaporeans and their families have received notices setting the dates of their executions.

Prison officials have not answered emailed questions from AFP seeking confirmation.

Singapore imposes the death penalty for certain crimes, including murder and some forms of kidnapping.

It also has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws: trafficking more than 500 grams of cannabis and 15 grams of heroin can result in the death penalty.

At least 13 people have been hanged so far since the government resumed executions following a two-year hiatus in place during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rights watchdog Amnesty International on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the impending executions.

“It is unconscionable that authorities in Singapore continue to cruelly pursue more executions in the name of drug control,” Amnesty’s death penalty expert Chiara Sangiorgio said in a statement.

“There is no evidence that the death penalty has a unique deterrent effect or that it has any impact on the use and availability of drugs.

“As countries around the world do away with the death penalty and embrace drug policy reform, Singapore’s authorities are doing neither,” Sangiorgio added.

Singapore insists that the death penalty is an effective crime deterrent.

— AFP

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