PH working on repatriation of 73 Pinoys nabbed over Laos cyber scam — Cacdac

The Philippine government is now working on the repatriation of 73 Filipinos who are among the nearly 800 arrested persons over a cyber scam network in Laos, the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said Friday.

DMW Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is facilitating the repatriation while the DMW is set to give help to the concerned Filipinos when they arrive in the Philippines.

“The DFA is working on repatriating the 73 Filipinos involved. The DMW shall provide post arrival assistance,” Cacdac told GMA News Online in a message.

In light of the incident, Cacdac advised all Filipino job applicants to ensure that they have a work visa as well as a contract reviewed by the DMW, and that they are engaging with a licensed recruitment agency.

Authorities in Laos have arrested almost 800 people working for a cyber scam network in a "special economic zone" on the border with Myanmar and Thailand, according to local media.

Located in Bokeo province, the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ) with Chinese-owned casinos and hotels was a suspected hub for illegal activity in recent years, the Agence France-Presse reported.

A total of 771 people were detained mostly from Laos, Myanmar and China. Some of them are from Burundi, Colombia, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Mozambique, Tunisia, the Philippines, Uganda and Vietnam.

The crackdown is part of a larger effort to stamp out transnational crimes within the SEZ, according to the report. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News