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Read Full BioFilipino immigration officials say that former Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) are moving to Pakistan, where they are trying to lure citizens into gambling-themed crime and scam networks.
Experts told the South China Morning Post that ex-POGOs are moving to new jurisdictions following a government crackdown.
Philippines No Longer an Option for Illegal Operators
POGOs were ordered to shut down by President Bongbong Marcos in July 2024, during his State of the Nation Address.
Since then, officers have been hunting operators who continue to run gambling-related sites and apps.
In October of last year, the government ordered foreign passport-holding POGO employees to voluntarily downgrade their visas. Those refusing to do so were threatened with deportation.
Filipino police have since followed up with arrests. Last month, police spokespeople announced that the force had deported 100 Chinese nationals to Shanghai, China, after a raid on an illegal gambling network.
Deportations to China
In February this year, officials said they deported 91 Chinese nationals to Xi’an. This followed a raid on an illegal POGO operating out of a commercial building in Parañaque City on January 8, which saw police arrest 450 people.
But officials claim that many operators are instead choosing to move abroad, where they try to lure Filipinos into working for them.
Immigration staff told reporters that they stopped four Filipinos bound for Hong Kong at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, on July 6.
After questioning the quartet, immigration officers said they found discrepancies in their statements.
They later discovered that the four individuals were actually heading to Pakistan. At least one of the quartet is a former POGO employee.
This same individual, officers said, was recruited by a Chinese former employer who used to work in the POGO sector but has since relocated overseas.
Melvin Mabulac, an official from the Bureau of Immigration, last week claimed that this was the first confirmed case of Filipinos traveling to Pakistan to work for gambling operators.
Mabulac said his bureau was now investigating to see if former POGOs are using multiple exit strategies to smuggle Filipino workers out of the country.
The bureau believes that some would-be gambling firm employees pretend to be taking legitimate vacations. Others use illegal exit corridors in the Southern Philippines.
Former POGOs may follow in the footsteps of trafficking syndicates in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand.
These syndicates typically use overland exit points near Palawan, Zamboanga, and Tawi-Tawi, rather than airports.
“We are looking into the possible new destinations of [people who are] now transferring to Pakistan,” Mabulac said.
Social Media Snares
Earlier this year, the Bureau of Immigration said that “scam hubs abroad operating in the guise of online gambling or call centers continue to recruit Filipinos via social media platforms.”
POGO-themed scam operations have sprung up in the Philippines since the turn of the century. Many of these operations also mastermind crypto-themed scams, police have warned.
Alexander Ramos, a former undersecretary and executive director of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, said he believed many trafficking networks in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and Pakistan were related to former POGOs.
“It’s easier for them to [move] their operations overseas at this point,” Ramos said.
“We’re seeing that this could boom in South Asia and Africa, as their systems have not yet been widely exploited.”
‘Natural Progression’ for POGOs Moving to Pakistan
At their height in 2018, some 300 POGOs operated in the Philippines. Their annual revenues reached a peak of over $116 million in the same year.
Many Chinese-run online gaming companies used the POGO system to set up shop in Filipino special economic zones (SEZs).
Officials think over 9,000 former POGO workers continue to reside in the Philippines.
Jan Chavez-Arceo, a national security fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations, said moving to Pakistan was “a natural progression” for illegal gambling operators.
Earlier this month, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation ordered gambling firms to take down gambling billboards by August 15.
