MANILA, Philippines – Stories of human trafficking used to just involve navigating dangerous lands and waters in pursuit of better opportunities elsewhere. Now, it has taken a much more complex form, as shown by the experience of 12 Filipinos who were rescued from Myanmar after being tricked into becoming scammers. (READ: In Myanmar, human trafficking hub forces Filipinos into crypto scam)
In a plenary speech last November 21, Senator Risa Hontiveros reported on Filipino human trafficking victims who were forced and trained to scam victims with the use of cryptocurrency. And those who were not able to fulfill quotas would be subject to physical harm, even death. (READ: Chinese mafia forcing Filipinos to lure others into crypto scam – Hontiveros)
In this episode of Newsbreak Chats, Rappler investigative desk head Chay Hofileña sits down with multimedia reporter Ralf Rivas to discuss the many facets of POGOs and cryptocurrency, how these two tie together to create a new scam, and the challenges faced by journalists in verifying information on human trafficking cases.
Watch Newsbreak Chats on Thursday, December 1, at 4 pm. – Rappler.com
How does this make you feel?
![[Finterest] What is cryptocurrency, and what’s with the hype?](https://www.rappler.com/tachyon/2023/12/crypto-money-laundering-reuters-scaled.jpg?resize=257%2C257&crop_strategy=attention)
