The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) filed qualified human trafficking charges against Cassandra Li Ong and 51 other respondents on Tuesday, September 10, 20241. The charges were filed at the Department of Justice and relate to the respondents' alleged involvement in the Lucky South 99 scam farm in Porac, Pampanga, according to PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio in a post on X1.
Among the respondents is Ronalyn Baterna, the documented corporate secretary of Lucky South 991. The report did not name the other respondents or state the specific allegations against each of them.
The filing follows an earlier case by the same two agencies. In June, the PAOCC and PNP-CIDG filed a qualified human trafficking complaint against former Bamban mayor Alice Guo in connection with the raided Philippine offshore gaming operator entity in her town1. Guo and Ong are also facing 87 counts of money laundering, filed by the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the National Bureau of Investigation and the PAOCC in August1.
The report did not state the total number of people charged across both trafficking cases, the status of the June complaint against Guo, or a schedule for the Department of Justice to act on the new charges.
"The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) on Tuesday filed qualified human trafficking charges against Cassandra Li Ong and 51 others."
What it means for players
The charges concern an alleged scam farm, a compound where workers are held and forced to run online fraud, rather than a licensed gambling venue. For anyone gambling in the Philippines, the case is a reminder that offshore-facing operations tied to raided compounds sit outside the regulated market covered by Philippine gambling rules. The report does not identify any licensed operator as a respondent, and it does not say whether any betting site connected to Lucky South 99 took real customer deposits.
The case also shows that Philippine authorities are pursuing trafficking and money laundering charges, not only gaming violations, against people linked to these operations. The report does not describe how the charges affect players who used any site connected to the respondents, or whether funds are being traced or returned. Background on how these compounds operate and how to report suspected sites is set out in the guide to gambling scams and safety in Asia.
What happens next
The charges are now with the Department of Justice1. The report did not give a date for a preliminary investigation, a hearing or a resolution. It also did not say whether the 52 respondents have responded to the charges or entered pleas.
Sources1 sources
- Cassandra Ong, 51 others charged with qualified human trafficking, globalnation.inquirer.net
