Employment agencies and loan companies in the Philippines have worked together to cheat thousands of women seeking domestic worker jobs overseas in schemes that combine labor exploitation and predatory lending…

…Rapid Manpower Consultants, a recruitment agency licensed by the Philippine government, told her she needed to pay nearly $1,200 to secure a position in Hong Kong..

…they led her outside the building and around a corner to the offices of Hoya Lending Investor Corp...

…a recruiting firm called A&W International Manpower Services Specialist also controlled two lenders — PJH Lending Corp. and Prosperity and Success Lending Investor Corp…

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Philippine government’s Department of Migrant Workers…also did not provide a response to the allegations…

…CASH4U, tried to blackmail victims into making payments by threatening them…

A former director of CASH4U told ICIJ that the company was put out of business by the pandemic, but it has outsourced its debt collections to a collection agency…

Macaraeg says she was coerced by … Angelex Allied Agency into taking out a loan of nearly $800 from CASH4U…

Angelex Allied Agency did not respond to the ICIJ’s requests for comment…