2024-11-19
29 分钟Back in February, Dylan went to the Philippines for what he thought would be a great Chinese Lunar New Year vacation. Then he found himself held hostage in a gang-run scamming compound. We tell one man’s story about getting out and what the Philippines is doing to shut these operations down.
From prx.
When Dylan decided to fly to the Philippines for the Chinese New Year back in February, he thought it'd be a fun way to spend the holiday.
Dylan asked us just to use his first name for reasons that will become clear in a minute.
I arrived in Bambang around February.
I think it's February 11 or 12.
Bam bam.
It's a small, often overlooked city in the heart of the Philippines, north of Manila.
It's one of those lush island places with oversized palms, green rolling hills, and lots of farmland.
Dylan had worked in the Philippines previously.
In fact, it was an acquaintance of his from that job who invited him for the week.
My colleagues, my old colleagues in Philippines.
They'D worked together in the offshore gaming industry, and he didn't know this guy all that well.
In fact, he was a little surprised by the invite.
But Dylan thought that ringing in the Lunar New Year in a place like Bon Bon would be fun.
They'd go to some restaurants, maybe do some dancing.
I just meet up with my friends, and then maybe after this, we'll go to the Dino.
So he bought a plane ticket and began to plan his holiday.
When Dylan pulled up to the address his friend had given him, something seemed a little off.
His friend wasn't standing in front of a house or apartment building.
It looked more like a compound with all these buildings that look like dorms surrounded by security gates and razor wire.