By Macon Ramos Araneta
Manila Standard Today (Philippines)
THE Chinese syndicate that has collected P6 billion in six months of operations in the Philippines operates elsewhere in Southeast Asia apart from China, an NBI official said Wednesday.
The Internet and credit card syndicate led by Wei Hao Lo has defrauded many people in China and Taiwan, and some of the passports confiscated from arrested syndicate members show that they have been to Thailand, says case officer Norman Anire.
Cesar Bacani, head of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Anti-Fraud and Action Division, said the syndicate’s members could also be operating in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
“But as of this time, what we have established is their operation in the Philippines and in mainland China, where five safe houses were raided by local authorities simultaneous with the raids on his eight safe houses in the [Philippines],” Bacani told the Manila Standard.
“The raids in China led to the arrest of around 100 members of Lo’s syndicate.”
Based on the statements from Chinese police and Chinese Embassy officials, the syndicate’s members operate by contacting potential victims and telling them that they are under investigation for smuggling, money-laundering or overdrawing their credit cards, and that they will soon be summoned to court.
The targets will then be called by other syndicate members before being ordered to open a new account via on-line banking and transfer their money to that account, and to reveal the account number. The syndicate members will then withdraw the money in the Philippines via ATM.
Bacani said some victims were sometimes ordered to go to Macau and then to mail their ATM card to the Philippines.
“They have the telephone directory,” he said.
“Majority of the victims are picked by chance, but many of them are Chinese retirees and some are even relatives of ranking officials in China.”
Bacani said the syndicate’s style was similar to the text scam in the Philippines, where a potential victim is instructed to deposit a certain amount to an account number to be able to claim a prize worth millions of pesos that he or she supposedly has won.
“But the only difference is that in the Philippines, the fraudsters do not harass or intimidate the would-be victims contrary to what Lo’s group has been doing,” he said.
The syndicate’s members intimidate targets in mainland China and Taiwan by introducing themselves as a judge, prosecutor, police officer or a member of the jury, and then shaking them down for money.
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