The Philippine government has warned jobseekers about fake employment offers in Dubai being made by illegal recruiters on social media.
On Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) released a statement saying that Filipinos should be careful of job opportunities being offered in Dubai as they could end up in Iraq or Syria instead.
According to Julius Torres, chargé d’affaires of the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad, victims have been told either to accept jobs in Syria or Iraq or pay at least US$3,000 to be able to return home to the Philippines.
The statement was released after it was reported that nine Filipino women had been trafficked into Iraq after they were fraudulently offered jobs in Dubai that turned out to be non-existent.
The DFA reminded Filipinos who want to work overseas to check legitimate job offers with the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency or the Department of Labor and Employment.
There are also no legitimate jobs available in Iraq as a deployment ban was imposed by the Philippine government in 2014 and has not been lifted.
Read: Nine Filipinas rescued from illegal recruiters in Iraq