蜜芽传媒

The global online scamming industry is said to be worth some $500 billion a year. It operates in secret, in complexes hidden behind high fences in countries all over the world. It is a particular problem in the Philippines, where much of the industry is run by Chinese criminal organisations.

The scammers, whose job it is to persuade their victims to part with their hard-earned money, are often themselves the victims of crime, people trafficked across borders by gangsters and held prisoner in these 鈥渟cam hubs鈥�, forced to work.

It is a particular problem in the Philippines, where, in March 2024 the police raided a compound in a small town north of the capital, Manila. There they found several hundred people working. The spotlight immediately turned on the mayor of the town, Alice Guo, a colourful and energetic 32-year-old, who owned some of the land on which the compound was built.

We investigate the allegations against the former mayor who has now been charged with people trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion. There is a further, more lurid, and unproven allegation that she is a spy for China. We ask what effect this affair has had on an already tense relationship between the Philippines and China.

Presenters: Jay Behrouzi and Tony Han
Producer: Tim Mansel
Philippines producer: Yas Coles
Assistant producer: Harry Atteshlis
Sound engineer: James Beard
Production co-ordinators: Gemma Ashman and Mica Nepomuceno
Editor: Penny Murphy

(Photo: A torn election poster featuring former mayor Alice Guo in Bamban, Philippines. Credit: Tim Mansel)