NBI nabs 7 Chinese for bribery, fraud

MANILA, Philippines — Seven Chinese nationals have been arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation in Parañaque and Quezon City for credit card fraud and for allegedly attempting to bribe NBI agents with P1.5 million in exchange for their release.

NBI chief Jaime Santiago presented the suspects at a press conference yesterday.

They were Sun Jie, Lee Ching Ho, Jenny Pan, Zhao Zheng, Dong Jianhua, Yuan Bien and Shao Wen Hu.

The NBI classified the suspects as a transnational organized crime group.

Santiago said the NBI Cybercrime Division received complaints against the suspects for their alleged involvement in various schemes such as vishing, smishing, phishing, click-baiting, pretexting and whaling.

These activities, Santiago said, led to unauthorized access and use of the victims’ credit card credentials.

According to Santiago, the group would cash out money through socially engineered credit card credentials drawn from the victims’ accounts.

The suspects would convert the money into cash using point-of-sale devices, giving their accomplices 20 percent of the converted amount.

NBI agents arrested two of the suspects – Jie and Ho – during an entrapment operation in Parañaque on July 27.

Jie allegedly attempted to bribe the NBI operatives, offering P1.5 million in exchange for their release and dropping of charges against them.

The suspect told the NBI agents that his associate could raise the amount and deliver it personally to them.

Authorities played along with the bribe offer and hatched another entrapment operation at the parking lot of the NBI headquarters in Quezon City where the other five Chinese were nabbed.

A Chinese citizen reportedly handed a bag of money to one of the NBI agents.

The NBI also found three handguns and a smoke grenade in the suspects’ vehicle.

The suspects failed to present the necessary permits for the firearms.

Jie and Ho were charged for violating Republic Act 11449 or the Access Devices Regulation Act and for corrupting public officials.

Charges of illegal possession of firearms would be filed against the other Chinese suspects, the NBI said.