DFA warns vs job offers online

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) yesterday warned Filipinos against accepting overseas jobs offered online.

In a statement, the DFA said there are illegal recruiters who are using social media such as Facebook to offer work abroad, particularly in the United Arab Emirates.

The DFA issued the warning after the Philippine embassy in Baghdad reported a surge in the number of Filipino workers who were trafficked into Iraq from Dubai.

The embassy in Baghdad had taken into its custody nine Filipinas who entered Iraq illegally from Dubai through the Kurdistan region, the DFA said.

Embassy chargé d’affaires Julius Torres said the illegal recruiters use social media to offer non-existent jobs in Dubai to the victims, who are enticed to fly to the United Arab Emirates as tourists.

When the tourist visas of the victims are about to expire, Torres said the recruiters tell them to either accept jobs in Syria and Iraq or pay at least $3,000 for their return ticket to the Philippines.

If they refuse, the envoy said the victims are threatened with imprisonment for having expired visas.

He said victims who are convinced to travel to Iraq are sent to Erbil in the Kurdistan region where they are issued visas on arrival.

Torres said the victims will then travel by land to Baghdad or Basra via Kirkuk.

“Since their visas from Erbil will not be valid in Iraq, the victims are transferred from one car to another at least five times in one trip to avoid inspection in several security checkpoints,” he said.