Hundreds of “good-looking men and women” forced to work in a sprawling “love scam” centre have been rescued during a police raid in the Philippines.
Individuals were lured to the 10-hectare compound 60 miles north of Manila on the promise of well-paid jobs. Instead, their passports were confiscated and they were coerced into operating various online scams, pushed to defraud others or face violence themselves.
Authorities said that romance scams – also known as “pig butchering” operations, a reference to the farming practice of fattening pigs before slaughter – were a key element of the operation, which was masquerading as an online gaming company.
Those trapped in the centre were forced to send “sweet nothings” to their victims, peppering them with questions about their day and what they were eating, according to Winston Casio, spokesman for the presidential commission against organised crime.
He added that those running the centre had purposefully trapped “good-looking men and women to lure [victims]”.
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