Men and women were rescued after being trapped in the scheme (Picture: PAOCC)
Police have rescued hundreds of people from a scam centre where they were forced to pose as ‘lovers’ in an industrial-scale honeytrap scheme.
The centre in Bamban, Philippines, was raided earlier this week with officers freeing 838 Filipinos, 202 Chinese nationals and 73 others.
A Vietnamese man escaped the scam centre last month by climbing a wall, crossing a river and hid in a farm before tipping police off to the operation, according to BBC News.
The man showed signs of torture, including electrocution, police said.
Winston Casio, spokesman for the presidential commission against organised crime, said the man had been offered a chef’s job before he moved to the country.
But upon arrival, he was taken by the human traffickers who ran the vast romance scam.
Police launched an armed raid at the facility in Bamban (Picture: PAOCC)
The man told how he and others were forced to send ‘sweet nothings’ to victims, and check in about their day and what they had eaten for their last meal.
Many such honeytrap schemes begin by the scammers adopting a fake identity to gain trust and affection, before they manipulate and steal from the victims.
Those forced to take part also sent photos of themselves to ‘cultivate’ the relationship, Mr Casio said, with many of the rescued still ‘shaken’ from their experience.
Police issued two search warrants against the Chinese-owned Zun Yuan Technology Inc before launching a raid.
Authorities seized three shotguns, a pistol, two revolvers and 42 rounds of live ammunition from the facility.
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The massive property raided contained 36 separate buildings, each three to seven storeys high, Mr Casio said.
South Asia has become a centre for similar scam centres which swindle many unsuspecting internet users into giving money to fake lovers or shoddy businesses.
Some of these schemes are also referred to as ‘pig butchering schemes’, where victims are lured into making investments and payments – often in the form of cryptocurrency – before the person they paid it to disappears.
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