The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) warned overseas Filipno workers (OFWs) from dealing with remittance agents with shady operations following reports that jueteng lords use their remittances in money laundering.

Acting Labor and Employment Secretary Manuel G. Imson said the scheme obviously victimizes OFWs as unwitting accomplices in jueteng lords' operation of money laundering.

"In this case, our OFWs are clearly misled and made to believe that their remittances are directly sent to their family in the Philippines where in fact their money are kept by jueteng lords in foreign banks through their point man," he said.

"What we can do for the moment is to be cautious of dealing with remittance agents who, according to reports, normally do not charge fees which is already something extraordinary," Imson said.

The acting Labor chief also said that he would issue a directive to the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLOs) to immediately inform OFWs to become aware of the scheme. Also, he called on legitimate remittance centers to help the government curb this illegal activity by working on possible measures that could dissuade OFWs from sending remittances to dubious individual.

It was reported that at least two bigtime jueteng operators are behind the scheme, which involves the "point man" serving as the link between the OFW and the jueteng lord.

The point man advises the jueteng operator, through text message, on the amount the OFW wants to remit to his family, afterwhich the jueteng lord would ask his legmen to deliver the peso equivalent of the sum to the family, the report said.

"With the scheme, it appears that what actually reaches the family of OFWs are jueteng money and not the foreign currency that they give to the point man of these jueteng operators," Imson said.

Reports said that the foreign currency from OFWs is deposited by the point man to his own or in the operator's bank account abroad.

Source: DOLE - Information and Publication Service

Visit DOLE(Dept. of Labor and Employment)'s website at http://www.dole.gov.ph.