菲律宾警方突袭网络犯罪集团（PHI） 2023.6.27……【媒体报道】➤菲律宾马尼拉——周二，菲律宾警方在突击队的支持下发动了大规模突袭，并表示他们解救了来自中国、菲律宾、越南、印度尼西亚和其他十几个国家的 2,700 多名工人，这些工人据称被骗去为欺诈性网络游戏网站和其他网络犯罪集团工作。
➤从马尼拉大都会拉斯皮纳斯市的七座建筑物中解救的人口贩运受害者人数以及警方夜间突袭的规模是今年迄今为止的最大规模，这表明菲律宾已成为网络犯罪集团的重要活动基地。
➤网络犯罪诈骗已成为亚洲的一个主要问题，有报道称，该地区内外的人们被引诱到饱受冲突蹂躏的缅甸和柬埔寨等国家工作。然而，这些工人中的许多人发现自己陷入了实际上的奴役之中，被迫参与通过互联网针对他人的诈骗。
➤菲律宾国家警察反网络犯罪部门负责人西德尼·埃尔尼亚（Sydney Hernia）将军表示，持逮捕令的警察在午夜时分突袭并搜查了拉斯皮纳斯市的建筑物，并解救了来自至少 17 个国家的 1,534 名菲律宾人和 1,190 名外国人，其中包括 604 名中国人、183 名越南人、137 名印尼人、134 名马来西亚人和 81 名泰国人。还有一些来自缅甸、巴基斯坦、也门、索马里、苏丹、尼日利亚和台湾的人。
➤警方称，5 月，警方突袭了马尼拉北部邦板牙省马巴拉卡特市克拉克自由港的另一个涉嫌网络犯罪基地，拘留了近 1,400 名菲律宾人和外国工人，据称他们被迫进行加密货币诈骗。
➤警方称，一些工人告诉调查人员，当他们试图辞职时，他们被迫支付原因不明的巨额费用，他们也担心自己会被卖给其他犯罪集团。
➤官员们表示，Facebook 广告中的高薪和理想工作条件吸引了员工，但后来发现这些承诺只是一个骗术。

2,700 people tricked into working for cybercrime syndicates rescued in Philippines
Published 7:44 PM GMT+8, June 27, 2023

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police backed by commandos staged a massive raid on Tuesday and said they rescued more than 2,700 workers from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and more than a dozen other countries who were allegedly swindled into working for fraudulent online gaming sites and other cybercrime groups.

The number of human trafficking victims rescued from seven buildings in Las Pinas city in metropolitan Manila and the scale of the nighttime police raid were the largest so far this year and indicated how the Philippines has become a key base of operations for cybercrime syndicates.

Cybercrime scams have become a major issue in Asia with reports of people from the region and beyond being lured into taking jobs in countries like strife-torn Myanmar and Cambodia. However, many of these workers find themselves trapped in virtual slavery and forced to participate in scams targeting people over the internet.

In May, leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed in a summit in Indonesia to tighten border controls and law enforcement and broaden public education to fight criminal syndicates that traffic workers to other nations, where they are made to participate in online fraud.

Brig. Gen. Sydney Hernia, who heads the national Philippine police’s anti-cybercrime unit, said police armed with warrants raided and searched the buildings around midnight in Las Pinas and rescued 1,534 Filipinos and 1,190 foreigners from at least 17 countries, including 604 Chinese, 183 Vietnamese, 137 Indonesians, 134 Malaysians and 81 Thais. There were also a few people from Myanmar, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria and Taiwan.

It was not immediately clear how many suspected leaders of the syndicate were arrested.

Police raided another suspected cybercrime base at the Clark freeport in Mabalacat city in Pampanga province north of Manila in May where they took custody of nearly 1,400 Filipino and foreign workers who were allegedly forced to carry out cryptocurrency scams, police said.

Some of the workers told investigators that when they tried to quit they were forced to pay a hefty amount for unclear reasons or they feared they would be sold to other syndicates, police said, adding that workers were also forced to pay fines for perceived infractions at work.

Workers were lured with high salary offers and ideal working conditions in Facebook advertisements but later found out the promises were a ruse, officials said.

Indonesian Minister Muhammad Mahfud, who deals with political, legal and security issues, told reporters in May that Indonesia and other countries in the region have found it difficult to work with Myanmar on cybercrime and its victims.

He said ASEAN needs to make progress on a long-proposed regional extradition treaty that would help authorities prosecute offenders more rapidly and prevent a further escalation in cybercrime.