A NIgerian national, who is wanted in the United States for cyber fraud, has been arrested in Quezon City, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Monday, Oct. 28.
BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado identified the Nigerian as Ahmed Kamilu Alex, 35, who has been in the immigration blacklist since August.
“He will remain in our immigration blacklist and banned from re-entering the Philippines after he is deported,” Viado said.
In a statement, the BI said that operatives of the bureau’s Fugitive Search Unit (BI-FSU) arrested Alex last Oct. 11 in Barangay (village) Palisahan, Quezon City based on a mission order that was issued at the request of the US government which sought his deportation.
The BI noted that Alex's illegal activities were reported by the US Defense Criminal Investigative Services to the Department of Justice (DOJ) which endorsed it to the BI for law enforcement action.
“US authorities alleged that Alex conspired with two other accomplices in perpetrating a cyber fraud scheme by creating bogus websites that mimicked legitimate US government agencies during the Covid-19 pandemic,” the bureau disclosed.
“Through the said fake websites, the suspects reportedly managed to charge their unsuspecting victims, who are mostly military personnel, between $500 to $48,500 purportedly as payment for processing their emergency leave requests,” it added.