Perils of Being OFW

[Possum]

Though we all know OFWs are scammed often at least now it's getting a little international attention.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/trafficking-inc/philippine-lenders-and-labor-agents-fleece-workers-seeking-overseas-jobs-interviews-and-confidential-documents-show/?utm_source=ICIJ&utm_campaign=823e528a21-20230516_WeeklyEmail_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_992ecfdbb2-823e528a21-82033249

Employment agencies and loan companies in the Philippines have worked together to cheat thousands of women seeking domestic worker jobs overseas in schemes that combine labor exploitation and predatory lending, interviews with workers and thousands of pages of confidential complaints filed with Philippine authorities show.

These companies play on workers’ hopes for better lives for themselves and their families, pressuring them into paying illegal recruiting fees and taking out loans with interest rates often exceeding 130%, workers and complaint documents allege.

These Philippines-based labor firms tell job seekers they can’t get coveted positions as household workers in Hong Kong or Taiwan unless they pay fees ranging between $800 to $1,700, according to interviews with 15 workers. Those fees represent huge sums for workers from impoverished backgrounds. They are also illegal under Philippine law, the complaint documents allege.

To make sure they collect their money, the workers and documents say, employment firms steer workers to lenders that advance them money to cover the hefty fees. The interviews and documents reveal that these lenders promise low interest rates but the actual interest charges are much higher — with annual interest rates ranging between 61% and 578%. Those rates are far above the Philippines’ 8% per year legal limit on what lenders can charge on loans to overseas workers.

Waterfront home in Manila against the backdrop of the city skyline
Many workers in the Philippines travel to the country’s political and economic capital, Manila, to seek employment abroad. Image: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The recruiters and lenders pull off the schemes, the documents and workers allege, by rushing workers through a smoke-and-mirrors process that hides key details about their employment and loan contracts. The complaints say some lenders blackmail borrowers by coercing them into signing over blank checks — and then threatening to “bounce” the checks and file criminal charges against them if they complain to government authorities or don’t keep up with their payments.

“I’m so afraid of that blank check, because maybe one day they arrest me because of that,” said Merry Criz Renayong, whose loan with a Philippine lender carries an interest rate of more than 180%. “I’m so afraid I might go to jail.”

I’m so afraid of that blank check, because maybe one day they arrest me because of that. I’m so afraid I might go to jail.

— Merry Criz Renayong, a Filipina worker who took out a high-interest loan

In a nation where poverty pushes as many as one in 10 adults to seek employment abroad each year, the money overseas workers send home helps their families survive, boosts the Philippine economy and earns them praise as “modern-day heroes.” But their financial needs and uncertain immigration status when they go abroad leave them vulnerable to mistreatment not only by employers but also by recruiters and lenders, workers and labor experts say.

“Of course, we want to work abroad, so they charge workers huge amounts of money,” said Annabelle Gutierrez, 38, who described paying a large recruiting fee with a high-interest loan from a lender she’d been directed to by an employment agency. “We grab it because we don’t have a choice.”

Edited July 1, 2023 by Mike J
Added article text per forum rules

[Gator]

7 hours ago, Possum said:

Though we all know OFWs are scammed often at least now it's getting a little international attention.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/trafficking-inc/philippine-lenders-and-labor-agents-fleece-workers-seeking-overseas-jobs-interviews-and-confidential-documents-show/?utm_source=ICIJ&utm_campaign=823e528a21-20230516_WeeklyEmail_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_992ecfdbb2-823e528a21-82033249

Good read, thanks. Sadly just another example of how the rich n powerful prey on their own. As I began reading the article my first thought was that it was allowed to continue only because of the ppl who controlled it and the widespread corruption. Although the article touched on those topics, it failed to name names.