Two Chinese nationals have been arrested and four foreigners have been rescued from an online scam operation in Taytay, Rizal, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Monday, Oct. 21.
The NBI identified those arrested as Wang Kun and Liu Xiao Xiao.
Those rescued were identified as Malaysian national Siaw Ping Lim and Chinese nationals Lim Dong Bai, Li Tan and Gan Lin Long.
Wang and Liu were arrested by the NBI’s Criminal Intelligence Division (CRID) during a rescue operation conducted last Oct. 16 in Greenwood Village in Taytay, Rizal.
Following the arrest and rescue operations, the NBI said the two arrested Chinese were presented for inquest before the Rizal Provincial Prosecutor’s Office for violation of Section 4 of Republic Act (RA) No. 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.
Also included in the complaint was Ma Shang Lai who has been identified as the employer of the rescued persons.
The NBI said the CRID conducted the operation after receiving a complaint from a certain Jinwen Yang who claimed that his friend, Siaw Ping Lim was being held against her will.
“Per the complainant, the company operates an online scamming enterprise inside a residential house in Greenwoods Village, Taytay, Rizal,” said the NBI.
It said that the complainant also reported there were “other call center employees, all foreigners, who are similarly situated with that of the victim.”
Prior the rescue operation, the NBI said “ CRID conducted a series of surveillance operations.”
“After ascertaining the alleged location and considering the urgency of the situation, CRID hatched a plan to conduct a rescue operation,” it added.