Philippines: Singapore Cracks Down on Use of ‘Dummy’ Airline Tickets

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PUBLISHED ON November 13, 2007 AT 10:16 AM

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12 November 2007 – The Philippine Embassy in Singapore reported to the Department of Foreign Affairs that twelve Filipinos have been jailed due to the Singaporean Government’s crack down on foreigners who present fake or dummy return airline tickets to its immigration authorities.

Possession of a roundtrip ticket is a requirement for Filipino tourists who travel abroad, and scrutinized at the port of exit in the Philippines and port of entry of the destination country.

Deception of immigration officials and presenting fake e-tickets is illegal and a serious offense in Singapore, as well as in the Philippines. Offenders face a minimum two-year ban to enter Singapore.

In the last two months, fifteen Filipinos drew jail terms ranging from three to ten months each. These include job seekers, pub girls who tried to extend their stay in Singapore, and a Filipino information technology professional who manufactures fake electronic tickets for Filipinos.

Philippine Ambassador Belen Anota warned Filipinos not to use fraudulent tickets issued by travel agencies in the Philippines, and procure instead open-dated return tickets if unsure of a return date.

In a recent meeting with the leaders of the Filipino expatriate community in Singapore, the Philippines’ top envoy asked for support to inform travelers to the city-state to heed the warning and ensure that they have valid roundtrip tickets.

The lady Ambassador also warned travel agencies that produce fake airline tickets risk facing charges and affect their business.

To curb the rampant use of fake return tickets, the Embassy has proposed the following measures to be utilized in the Philippines: 1) To strictly impose disciplinary measures against travel agencies that issue fake electronic tickets as they are a party to deceiving the ticket holders, the airline’s check-in personnel, and immigration officials at the airport; 2) An information campaign at the local government level and among travel agencies in the Philippines on the dangers and disadvantages of using dummy tickets targeting job seekers who masquerade as tourists.; and 3) To aggressively implement laws against illegal recruiters, and to conduct a more intensive information campaign in the localities where trafficking victims are recruited.

Germane to this, the Embassy also highlighted the link between human trafficking and rampant use of dummy tickets by Filipino victims of human trafficking in Singapore. To entice prospective victims, human traffickers and illegal recruiters usually provide “free” roundtrip tickets (usually in the form of e-tickets), with only one way as valid, and charge them a minimal fee. To lower costs, human traffickers connive with travel agencies to issue dummy return tickets, usually from an airline different from the outbound portion, to comply with the Philippines’ immigration requirement of a roundtrip ticket for tourists. The modus operandi lowers the cost of the outbound flight. Traffickers then extract profits from their victims by compelling them to repay their spurious debts ranging from $1,200 - $6,000. END.

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Philippines: Singapore Cracks Down on Use of ‘Dummy’ Airline Tickets

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