17 Chinese arrested for cyber-fraud

LAS Piñas City police on Sunday arrested 17 Chinese allegedly engaged in a multi-million dollar telecommunications fraud.

Police Supt. Jenny Tecson, spokesperson of the Southern Police District, said the suspects, consisting of nine females and eight males, were ar rested for violating Article 315 of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2002.

“They were involved in fraud wherein they will call their victims and will inform them that there’s a problem with their account. The victims will then be advised to create a new account, which is where the fund transfer happens,” Tecson said in a text message.

The Chinese were arrested by operatives of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group in an operation conducted at 114 Verona Street, Citadela Village, Pulanglupa 2 at 4:40 a.m. on Sunday by virtue of a search warrant issued by Branch 24 of the Regional Trial Court of Manila.

The syndicate members were detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Authorities earlier arrested in three separate operations some 156 foreigners who were allegedly involved in the same modus operandi.

The syndicate groups usually target people in mainland China, pretending to be members of law enforcement and judicial authorities. They would call victims, informing them that their phone numbers or bank accounts are involved in fraudulent activities.

They would then demand huge sum of money from the victims. If the victim yields, they would ask them to deposit money to speci