20 arrested in 3 QC cybersex dens

Twenty people were arrested on Wednesday when policemen raided three suspected cybersex dens in Quezon City.

Operatives from the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) and Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) conducted the simultaneous raids at around 10:30 p.m. based on a tip provided by a confidential informant about the illicit activities in three establishments under the business name of Kanluran Contact Solution Inc.

The three offices are located in buildings in Barangays Sto. Cristo, Nayong Kaunlaran and Diliman. Three search warrants were issued by Judge Arthur Malabaguio of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 93.

One of the alleged maintainers, Mark Bocaya, 33 and 19 other people, all nen aged 19 to 33 years old, were arrested.

QCPD director Chief Superintendent Guillermo Eleazar said policewomen who posed as applicants and underwent on-the-job training as “chatters confirmed that the three offices were operating as cybersex dens.”

A police report said the suspects were caught chatting with their prospective clients. Probers learned sales agents engage in advertising and selling obscene pornographic sites, posing as foreign men or women in the United States and other countries with lewd profiles.

Their clients are foreigners who pay $150 to get an initial one-month subscription through their credit cards. They are duped into sending nude photographs and blackmailed into giving more money in exchange for not posting their lewd pictures on the internet.

“Based on the information, we conducted surveillance and undercover operations that confirmed the existence of the cybersex dens,” Eleazar said.

Police seized 32 computer sets, 12 computer monitors, two routers, two modems, two switch hubs and one casing during the raid.

The suspects are facing charges of violation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.