ABANDONED Members of a government teamled by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) find abandoned workstations during a raid on a suspected Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub in a building on Ayala Avenue in Makati City on Thursday night. —PAOCC PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Government agents on Thursday night raided a suspected Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub at the heart of the Makati City central business district (CBD), but failed to arrest the workers who were able to escape before the law enforcers arrived.
A composite team from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), the Department of Justice Office of Cybercrime (DOJ-OOC), the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), and the Makati police launched the operation after receiving a tip that a Pogo serving as a scam center was operating at PBCom Tower on Ayala Avenue.
‘21 companies’
The operation focused on seven floors of the 52-story building. Authorities found abandoned workstations in disarray, an indication that the workers hurriedly left.
“Our intel here is that it is actually operating as a Pogo, a scamming center. That’s 21 companies, with different [company] names and with different names of the owner,” Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, PAOCC executive director, told reporters during the raid.
Cruz said more than 600 foreigners were working on different floors of the building.
Where industry started
“What we are looking for here is more than 600 foreigners. But they must have sensed our operation, that is why they were no longer here when we arrived,” he said.
Most of the foreign workers are Chinese, according to PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio.
In a statement on Friday, PAOCC said the building used to house some of the pioneers in offshore gaming dating back to 2017. Some of them have since relocated.
“This is where the small Pogos started. And then they put up the big Pogos—the likes of the hub [linked to former Bamban, Tarlac] Mayor Alice Guo, and the one in Porac (Pampanga), and like the big hubs that we have been finding,” Cruz said.
PAOCC said, “a number of rooms in the area showed signs of activities prior to the raid.”
“Many computers were still turned on and unconsumed food was also found. Several scamming scripts were also found in the area. Money safety vaults, company phones, and SIM cards were hurriedly discarded too,” it added.
Defying ban
Suspected Pogo hubs continued to operate despite the total ban imposed by President Marcos through an executive order issued in November last year.
The companies covered by the ban, including “internet gaming licensees,” were given until Dec. 31, 2024 to shut down.
The EO was based on findings of how Pogos had become fronts for money laundering, fraud, and other illicit financial activities while sourcing their manpower through human trafficking schemes.
Since the shutdown deadline passed, “guerrilla-type” Pogos were still being found, including one operation discovered at a resort in Silang, Cavite, in January.