8 Israelis, 474 Filipinos arrested for stock trading scam

MANILA, Philippines — Police arrested eight Israelis and 474 Filipinos involved in a multimillion-dollar online stock trading scam in Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City, Pampanga in a raid that began Wednesday.

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said operatives of the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) swooped down on three buildings of International Branding Development Marketing Inc., a company whose employees are allegedly involved in fraudulent financial transactions.

Albayalde identified four of the Israelis as Gal Manobla, Natali Grin, Ishay Shaulov and Noa Hofman.

He said police are still verifying identities of the other foreigners.

The Filipino employees –232 males and 242 females – were caught in the act of communicating and doing online transactions with foreign clients from Europe, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Russia.

The company has been operating for two and a half years in the guise of a call center firm based in London.

“On the average, their transaction is almost $1 million a day,” Albayalde told a press briefing yesterday.

The raiding lawmen seized several pieces of digital evidence from computers and identification cards, he said.

The operation stemmed from the complaints of four victims, three Australians and a South African, who claimed they were duped by the suspects into investing their money in online stock trading.

“Their modus operandi is like a stock trading scam, meaning they invite investors online. So again after that, they will get details of your bank accounts, credit cards,” ACG director Chief Supt. Marni Marcos said.

The suspects would text to ask their victims to download TeamViewer, a software for remote control, desktop sharing, online gaming, web conferencing and file transfer between computers.

Marcos explained that once the victims download the software, they can no longer control their computer.

“The transfer of money will be done through online. They will be the one controlling the transfer of money,” he said.

The victims eventually discovered the suspects were operating in the Philippines after some “defectors” from the company informed them through online about the scam.

“Maybe their conscience was bothered so they tried to connect with these people,” Marcos said.

Authorities obtained a search warrant issued by Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano authorizing the raid.

Albayalde said they are investigating how the suspects operated for more than two years without securing a permit from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“That will be part of the investigation and we will verify why they were allowed to operate that long,” he said.

The suspects were brought to Camp Crame for further investigation.

They are facing charges of syndicated estafa and violation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act.