Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents have arrested a South Korean who is allegedly wanted in his country for telecommunications fraud.
In a statement Monday, Dec. 26, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said 40-year-old Byun Jonghyun was apprehended last week in Brgy. Balibago, Angeles City, Pampanga by operatives from the BI’s fugitive search unit (FSU).
Tansingco said Byun will be deported immediately as an order for his summary deportation was already issued by the BI Board of Commissioners last September.
He was already placed in the immigration blacklist and permanently banned from returning for being an undesirable alien, the BI chief added.
BI-FSU acting chief Rendell Ryan Sy said Byun is also the subject of an Interpol red notice issued in April 2020.
The said notice stemmed from an arrest warrant issued against the Korean by the Seoul central district court where he was charged for violating his country’s telecommunications business law.
Korean authorities alleged that Byun is a member of an organized crime syndicate based in Manila that defrauds their compatriots back home by engaging in voice phishing operations.
It is estimated that the syndicate’s earnings from the racket already amounted to more than 674 million won, or roughly half a million dollars.
Byun is now detained at the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City while awaiting his deportation.