‘Bataan POGO hub into black market banking’

MANILA, Philippines — Investigators have reported spotting red flags indicating the raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in Bagac, Bataan is involved in black market banking and other illegal activities.

While Central One projects itself as a business process outsourcing (BPO), there are signs the company is involved in online scams, according to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

PAOCC spokesman Winston John Casio yesterday said a closer scrutiny showed that Central One is not a call center.

Casio said it is possible that the BPO could be involved in black market banking, a form of underground economic activity wherein goods and services are exchanged illegally.

“I hope we are wrong, but based on what we are seeing, these are indicators of black market banking or underground banking. It is not an ordinary company,” Casio said, referring to Central One.

He said the discovery of the Winbox at the hub indicated that the company is engaging in illegal activities.

Winbox is a gaming platform that is banned in other countries as it is reportedly used for cryptocurrency and investment scams.

The raiding team, composed of PAOCC agents as well as police and military officers, seized several phones, which Casio believed were used for a payment system for online transactions from Nepal.

He said the phones were used for placing online sports bets involving millions of transactions.

Casio said that although Central One has a permit issued by the freeport of Bataan, the company does not have a secondary permit from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

He said PAOCC investigators have yet to determine if the POGO hub had been engaging in love scams.

Up to 57 foreigners and 358 Filipinos were rounded up following the raid on Centro Park in Barangay Parang on Thursday.

Casio said they were looking for four Malaysians and a Thai national who were not present during the raid. He said the Bureau of Immigration has been asked to issue an alert status on the foreigners.

Meanwhile, an employee of Central One denied that the company is involved in illegal activities.

The employee, identified as alias Arlene, criticized the PAOCC for saying that the workers were rescued from the hub.

“We were not rescued, nothing bad was happening to us inside,” Arlene said, adding she and her co-workers would not have stayed in the company if they were being abused or forced to do illegal activities.

Arlene said she has been working for Central One for nearly two years. She said she and her fellow workers in the night shift were about to go home when a van with armed men on board pulled up.

Arlene said the men told them to raise their hands and prohibited them from using their phones.