POGOs and Online Scams, From the Philippines to Myanmar
Por Luke Hunt — The Diplomat
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A conversation with award-winning Filipina journalist Eunice Barbara Novio.
Buildings in the Shwe Kokko “scam city” in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, Myanmar, as seen from the Thai side of the border, Nov. 9, 2022.
Filipina journalist Eunice Barbara Novio. (Photo supplied)
Eunice Barbara Novio is a Thailand-based journalist and an English lecturer at Vongchavalitkul University who has has written extensively on human trafficking in Southeast Asia, particularly focusing on Filipino victims trafficked to Myanmar.
A veteran writer for Inquirer.net, she has reported about how trafficking networks lure Filipinos with false job offers, only to exploit them in scam hubs or forced labor situations.
Novio has also helped victims of organized crime escape from their ordeal, particularly from compounds operating inside Myanmar and close to the Thai border.
She told The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt that the current scam compound phenomenon had its roots in the Philippines dating back to 2016, when Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, commonly known as POGOs, took hold and flourished in places like Bamban – a small agricultural town north of Manila.
POGOs were banned in late 2024 and a former Bamban mayor, Alice Guo, was sentenced to life in prison in November 2025 after a Philippine court found her guilty of qualified human trafficking, involving hundreds of people who were forced to run scams on pain of mistreatment and torture.
What also sets the Philippines apart is its Department of Migrant Workers, which has a long history of handling its country’s extensive expat working population and has been used to help extract and repatriate victims of organized crime.
Novio, a two-time Plaridel Awardee for Journalism conferred by the Filipino American Press Club, says that the numbers of Filipinos still in Myanmar scam compounds can be measured in the thousands as organized crime restructures its operations further inland, away from the Thai border.
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Filipina journalist Eunice Barbara Novio. (Photo supplied)
Eunice Barbara Novio is a Thailand-based journalist and an English lecturer at Vongchavalitkul University who has has written extensively on human trafficking in Southeast Asia, particularly focusing on Filipino victims trafficked to Myanmar.
A veteran writer for Inquirer.net, she has reported about how trafficking networks lure Filipinos with false job offers, only to exploit them in scam hubs or forced labor situations.
Novio has also helped victims of organized crime escape from their ordeal, particularly from compounds operating inside Myanmar and close to the Thai border.
She told The Diplomat’s Luke Hunt that the current scam compound phenomenon had its roots in the Philippines dating back to 2016, when Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, commonly known as POGOs, took hold and flourished in places like Bamban – a small agricultural town north of Manila.
POGOs were banned in late 2024 and a former Bamban mayor, Alice Guo, was sentenced to life in prison in November 2025 after a Philippine court found her guilty of qualified human trafficking, involving hundreds of people who were forced to run scams on pain of mistreatment and torture.
What also sets the Philippines apart is its Department of Migrant Workers, which has a long history of handling its country’s extensive expat working population and has been used to help extract and repatriate victims of organized crime.
Novio, a two-time Plaridel Awardee for Journalism conferred by the Filipino American Press Club, says that the numbers of Filipinos still in Myanmar scam compounds can be measured in the thousands as organized crime restructures its operations further inland, away from the Thai border.
Luke Hunt is a Southeast Asia correspondent for The Diplomat. He has spent three decades working in the region and produces the Beyond the Mekong podcast. He can be followed on Patreon and X – formerly Twitter.
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Fonte: The Diplomat
