3 arrested for hacking phone systems

Two Jordanian brothers and a Filipino have been arrested for hacking into the telephone systems of multinational companies and at least one embassy.

Superintendent Rolando Sacramento, director of the Eastern Police District, said they were holding the three for hacking but were also "looking into the involvement of international terrorists," in the plot.

The Filipino, Marion Laquindanum was arrested in his home in Barangay Tunasan, Mandaluyong City Thursday in an operation launched after several major companies complained about being charged for international telephone calls they did not make.

Laquindanum identified the two Jordanians, Ivan Mahmoud and Al Nuesir as the masterminds of the scheme that involved hacking into the telephone systems of the multinationals and the unnamed embassy and then using their systems to make international calls for clients abroad. The two Jordanians were arrested Friday in a raid of their condominium unit in Salcedo Village, Makati City.

Sacramento said the Jordanians, through Laquindanum, had been connecting calls to the Middle East and Pakistan.

Several telephone sets, electronic equipment and a telephone switching system were recovered from Laquindanum’s home.

The two Jordanians had been living in the Philippines for about 12 years after entering the country as tourists. Nuesir said he had a Filipina wife and child, Sacramento said.

He would not identify the embassy which had its telephone system attacked.

The Jordanians will be charged with violating immigration laws and all three will be charged under a law against unauthorized entry into electronic communications systems. – Sheila Crisostomo, AFP