NBI nabs Chinese group involved in fraud

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation has arrested the other day 24 members of a well-entrenched Chinese telecommunications, internet and credit card fraud syndicate which had raked in P6 billion in six months time of illegal operations in the Philippines, during simultaneous raids on eight suspected safehouses in Metro Manila.

The NBI Anti Fraud and Action Division, led by Lawyer Cesar Bacani, said however they have yet to establish the identifies of the 24 suspects as they wrote their names in Chinese characters. “When signaled to write down their names, the suspects heeded but wrote them in Chinese characters,” said Bacani.

Bacani said that most of the suspects do not speak and understand English. He said only a few of them speak and understand very little of English.

Bacani said when they asked Chinese embassy officials who arrived at the NBI to check on the arrest of their nationals, the suspects replied.” Do you know the population of China? There are billions of residents. So one does not know one’s name. How are we to know their names?”

“So we are still checking on their names. We are double-checking their names,” Bacani said.

Bacani also said they are not yet sure if Wei Hao Lo, the alleged mastermind of the Chinese syndicate, is among those arrested by the NBI on Monday. Bacani said Chinese embassy representatives earlier left with NBI agents to check on the wounded Chinese and establish his identity. He remains confined at the Ospital ng Makati due to a gunshot wound in the stomach.

In a text message, the wounded Chinese was referred to by NBI Director Magtanggol Gatdula as the “unidentified person” who attempted to attack an NBI agent with a knife during a raid on a house at No. 33 Galaxy Street, Bel-Air 4 Village, Makati City, at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 27.

On the other hand, Bacani described Lo’s operation as “extensive and well-funded” because they can afford to pay rental fees at high-end condominiums and houses inside classy villages. He said that in carrying out their illegal operations, members of the Lo-led syndicate introduced themselves as judge, prosecutor or a police officer to their prospective victims in mainland China and Taiwan.

“They will call the would-be victims that the latter has committed a crime, or has a pending charge and needs to settle the case with the Chinese government by paying a particular amount. Some of their victims turned out to be relatives of Chinese government officials. Most of their victims are also Chinese retirees who have received huge amount of money,” Bacani said.

Based on the information provided to them by police of the People’s Republic of China (PROC), the raids in the Philippines was done simultaneously with raids in China in Lo’s suspected safehouses. Around 100 cohorts of Lo were also nabbed by Chinese police in China.

Bacani said the operation of the group has a strong semblance to a call center where there are several call center agents who call targets and do the follow-up calls.

Bacani said a syndicate member will ask a target from China or Taiwan to open a new account, and transfer their money to settle cases from the old account to the new account.

In some cases, he said the account holder will be asked to secure an ATM card in Macau and mail it to the address given by the syndicate, or to open a new account through online banking. If a victim agrees to online banking, the syndicate member will then ask for the account number, which will be copied by group which is also engaged in the manufacture fake ATM card where the money is withdrawn.