Operatives of the Bureau of Immigration (BI) have arrested four Koreans wanted in Seoul for involvement in large scale telecommunications frauds.
In a report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, the BI’s fugitive search unit (FSU) said the alien scammers were arrested on Thursday in the cities of Mabalacat and Taguig.
Arrested in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga was 40-year-old Won Jinchul, who is the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office.
He was allegedly a member of a voice phishing syndicate in Korea that defrauded their compatriots by pretending to be a police officer or a bank employee.
It was reported that from May 2013 to June 2014, Won netted over 177 million KRW or P7.4 million.
Also arrested on same date were Shim Jae Yong, 28; Kwon Hyunil, 32; and Cha Jun Young, 25 were arrested in a condominium in Brgy. Bambang, Taguig City.
BI-FSU chief Rendel Ryan Sy said that Shim's name is included in the Interpol Red Notice (warrant of arrest) and he has an outstanding arrest warrant for fraud issued by the Suwon District Court in South Korea on Sept. 6, 2019.
He is allegedly a member of a telecom fraud syndicate engaged in voice phishing that operated in Manila since January 2017 and which defrauded many Koreans of more than 990 million KRW, or P41.9 million.
Cha, on the other hand, is a fugitive reportedly involved in the same scheme. He was said to have earned over 18 billion KRW, or P762 million from 2018 until 2020.
During the operation against the duo, arresting agents came across Kwon in the same vicinity who has a pending warrant of arrest for fraud, issued by the Goyang branch of the Uijeongbu District Court.