It has been reported that scammers are luring Filipinos to engage in illegal "POGO-like" operations abroad with false promises of employment. In 2024, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr ordered a ban on POGO after receiving reports of human trafficking, money laundering, and other criminal activities.
However, the illegal industry still exists. Reportedly, some Philippine offshore gaming operators have gone underground and continue to operate. Many workers of foreign offshore gaming operators have not left after the December 31 deadline.
The Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) is now enforcing their deportation. The resolution signed on March 21, 2025, number 2025-002, requires former workers to take direct flights as much as possible to prevent them from escaping while returning to their homeland.
BI Director Joel Anthony Viado said: "Since we started large-scale deportations and arrests, this has always been uncharted territory. Cancelling direct flights for foreigners associated with POGO will reduce their chances of expanding operations in other [Asian] countries."
The industry ban is just the beginning
Last July, Marcos, in a fiery State of the Nation Address, ordered the prohibition of POGO operations on grounds of money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, and torture.
Some POGOs claim to offer online gambling services to overseas players, but in reality, they are fronts for romance scams and cryptocurrency fraud. In many cases, they rely on forced labor. Workers released in high-profile raids reported being beaten if they tried to leave or failed to meet financial quotas.
Despite the ban and deportation measures, the industry apparently remains vibrant across Southeast Asia. Filipino workers are still at risk. Philippine officials say that unsuspecting job seekers are now being lured into overseas "POGO-like" operations.
The Daily Forum reported on March 18 about a case where a victim was recruited through Facebook to work in customer service in Cambodia with a monthly salary of $1,000.
This is a typical "bait and switch" scam. Workers travel through illegal "backdoor" routes, taking a small boat with fake passports to Phnom Penh. Upon arrival, they are forced to work as online romance scammers, earning only $300 a month.
When they protest, they are abused by their employers. Eventually, they are dumped by their kidnappers in remote areas, then escape to the Philippine embassy and return home.
Viado stated in a press release: "Traffickers are exploiting illegal routes to evade the scrutiny of the Bureau of Immigration." He called on local government units and authorities to "strengthen monitoring and enforcement in vulnerable areas."
Criminals also exploit "backdoors"
The Philippine Inquirer reported that criminals associated with Philippine offshore gaming companies also use the same escape methods.
The infamous mayor Alice Guo, accused of operating an illegal online gambling company in Tarlac province, fled the country by boat. Harry Roque, a lawyer and spokesperson for former President Rodrigo Duterte, also fled by boat. Guo was later arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia, and deported back to the Philippines, facing charges of money laundering and human trafficking. Roque is currently unapprehended by law enforcement and is seeking asylum in the Netherlands.
Earlier this month, five blacklisted workers of Philippine offshore gaming companies, including two Chinese fugitives, were arrested while trying to escape the Philippines in the same manner.
Viado stated that stricter border controls and deportation procedures are "just the beginning." "We will continue our efforts to prevent criminals from finding ways back to their countries or evading legal sanctions."
Follow the money
An article in the Asian Sentinel in December warned that POGO will not quietly disappear. The report described illegal gambling activities as a "pandemic" that has spread across Southeast Asia.
"The problem is... a huge amount of money is flowing into the hands of organized crime" — about $100 billion (77.24 billion GBP/92.5 billion EUR) annually, the report continued. The lure of billions in black market profits "will not stop."
In January this year, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held a meeting in Malaysia to discuss the issue of illegal online gambling that exploded during the Covid-19 lockdowns. ASEAN in a statement "reaffirmed our collective determination to combat transnational crime, including human smuggling, human trafficking, drug trafficking, cybercrime, money laundering, and the growing threat of online fraud."
The Philippines is a member of ASEAN, which also includes Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., attributed this to "the transnational nature of online gambling, lax national management, and ASEAN's fragmented regulatory environment."
