Two fugitive South Koreans, who are allegedly involved in fraud-related activities, have been arrested in Angeles City, Pampanga, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Monday, Oct. 23.
In a statement, the BI identified the fugitive South Koreans as Kwon Junyoung, 38, and Seok Jongmin, 48, who were arrested last Saturday, Oct. 21, in Barangay Cuayan in Angeles City by operatives of the bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit (BI-FSU) in coordination with Korean authorities, government intelligence groups, and the Angeles City police.
The BI said that “Kwon is wanted for telecommunications fraud in South Korea while Seok is wanted in Texas, United States for engaging in wire fraud, money laundering and identity theft.”
“Information obtained from the Interpol’s (International Criminal Police Organization) National Central Bureau (NCB) in Manila revealed that Kwon was issued an arrest warrant by the Suwon district court in Korea on Dec. 12, 2019,” it said.
It also said that "prosecutors alleged that Kwon is a member of the telecom fraud syndicate based in Dalian, China that made random calls to victims through a scheme known as voice phishing."
In the case of Seok, the BI said that “the NCB disclosed that Seok is subject of an arrest warrant issued by the US district court in Western Texas where he is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of aggravated identity theft.”
“Seok allegedly conspired with other suspects in using stolen personal identifiable information (PII) of thousands of US military veterans to access websites of the US Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs which caused the victims to lose their benefits,” it said.
It also said that Seok will be transferred to the BI detention facility in Taguig City, while, Kwon has been placed under the custody of the Angeles City police due to a pending court case but “continue to be under the BI’s legal custody for deportation proceedings.”
“They will soon be deported to Korea and the US as a summary deportation orders were already [issued] against them by the BI board of commissioners,” Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.
He said that the two Koreans will also be placed in the BI's blacklist of undesirable aliens and banned from returning to the Philippines.