More 'Fake departure stamp' scheme victims intercepted at NAIA

Four more victims of the so-called "fake departure stamp" scheme were intercepted in two separate incidents at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said Tuesday. 

According to the BI, immigration officials stopped a 40-year-old male passenger attempting to board a Cathay Pacific morning flight to Hong Kong on August 31 after presenting a passport marked with a suspicious immigration departure stamp.

The victim admitted that he was offered work by a female recruiter he met on Facebook. The recruiter demanded a processing fee of P120,000 and promised he could bypass immigration without being detected.

Likewise, the BI intercepted three alleged trafficking victims boarding a Jestar flight to Singapore later in the evening due to suspicious stamps in their passports.

The victims, aged 32, 27, and 24, allegedly claimed to be a group of friends traveling to Cambodia for leisure but later revealed they had been recruited to work as call center agents, with a P50,000 salary for a 12-hour shift.

The victims were turned over to the interagency council against trafficking. 

“Similar to the previous schemes, recruiters directed their victims to meet a supposed contact at a fast food chain inside NAIA Terminal 3. This contact would typically take the victims' passports and boarding passes, then return them with counterfeit stamps,” said BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco.

“These syndicates give false promises of greener pastures. Despite their appealing facade, their exploitative practices can lead to serious repercussions,” he added. 

In July, the BI intercepted a victim of a fake departure stamp scheme at NAIA. —VAL, GMA Integrated News