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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Aaron Favila and Huizhong Wu

PHOTO ESSAY: Inside a detention center where scam workers wait for their return home

APTOPIX Global Scams Compound Photo Essay - (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

He had lost count of the number of times he was sold from company to company in the Philippines.

After being lured there for an office job from his village in southern China by a relative, Wind said he immediately realized the job wasn’t as advertised. Instead of doing administrative work in Manila for 10,000 yuan ($1,500) a month as promised, he was required to scam people and paid around $50, he said.

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