Maids saddled with crippling debts after falling prey to phone scams by fellow maids

Dozens of Filipino maids are being saddled with crippling debts after being lured into a mobile phone racket organised by unscrupulous moneylenders who use other maids to run the scam.

The fraud starts with a maid being shown a list of smartphones by a woman standing outside a telco shop. She hands the maid some cash and tells her what mobile subscription plan to sign up for – usually the most expensive one.