Philippine lenders and labor agents fleece workers seeking overseas jobs, interviews and confidential documents show. It has been uncovered that employment agencies and loan companies in the Philippines have collaborated to deceive and exploit thousands of women seeking domestic worker jobs abroad. This is according to interviews with workers and numerous confidential complaints filed with Philippine authorities. These schemes involve a combination of labor exploitation and predatory lending.

The modus operandi of these companies revolves around manipulating the aspirations of workers. The workers dream of providing a better life for themselves and their families. Through coercion and undue pressure, they force these individuals to pay exorbitant illegal recruitment fees and take out loans with astonishingly high interest rates, often surpassing 130%. Workers and complaint documents substantiate these claims.

Philippine lenders and labor agents fleece workers seeking overseas jobs, interviews and confidential documents show

These labor firms based in the Philippines misinform job seekers that they must pay fees ranging from $800 to $1,700. This is to secure coveted positions as household workers in Hong Kong or Taiwan. For individuals hailing from impoverished backgrounds, these sums are staggering. Furthermore, according to the lawsuit paperwork, these fees are prohibited by Philippine law.

To ensure that they receive their money, the employment firms direct workers towards lenders who offer advances to cover the substantial fees. However, as evidenced by the interviews and papers, despite initially promising low loan rates, these lenders actually charge substantially greater amounts. Annual interest rates fluctuate between 61% and a staggering 578%. These figures far exceed the Philippines’ legal limit of 8% per year on interest rates for loans to overseas workers.

Read full investigation here: www.icij.org