Chinese in scam farm charged

MANILA, Philippines — Criminal cases were filed against 12 Chinese who were arrested during a raid by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in a suspected scam farm in Malate, Manila on Tuesday.

The NBI filed charges of violating Republic 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act against Xie Dong Da, Yang Hang, Yu Shuan, Raymond Lau Lik Wan, Chai Ming How, Zhang Long, Ke Lin Chen, Jiang Ming, Ou Shou Zhou, Li Shie Jie, Wang Chao Jie and Gan Fang Fu during inquest proceedings at the Manila prosecutor’s office on Wednesday.

The foreigners were apprehended during a raid on the room of a hotel along Sta. Monica street on Tuesday night.

The NBI said the Chinese were caught using other people’s profile accounts in social media sites such as Telegram, Whatsapp, WeChat and Viber, targeting people in a scheme called love scam.

In its complaint, the NBI said the operation was based on a tip from a Chinese man who was detained at the scam farm and held for a ransom of P500,000.

The victim told the NBI he was forced to work as an online scammer by the suspects last June.

After he refused, he was beaten up and warned that he has to pay the ransom money if he wants to be freed.

According to the victim, he was released after he gave the password to his online payment account, which contained 40,000 RMB. His captors threatened to kill him if he told the authorities.