Ten foreigners have been arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in a subdivision in Paranaque City where they were found allegedly conducting online scamming activities.
In a statement, the NBI said the 10 foreigners were arrested by operatives of the NBI National Capital Region (NBI-NCR) during the service of a Warrant to Search, Seize, and Examine Computer Data (WSSECD) at a residence in Multinational Village in Paranaque City.
It said all the 10 foreigners face charges of violating Republic Act (RA) 12010, the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act.
The NBI identified seven of the foreigners as Vietnamese nationals Phan Viet Ngan, Do Anh Tuan, Nguyen Duc Anh, Phan Kim Sang, Vo Hong Sy, Nguyen Van Khanh, and Doan Van Dung.
The other foreigners were identified as Chinese nationals Zhang Ming Yi, Xin Yao Huang and Himen Chen.
The NBI said that during the operation, seized from the suspects were computers and transcripts with Chinese characters.
“Based on the seized translated transcripts, Subjects are indeed engaged in phishing and scamming activities,” it said.
“In addition, Operating System Triage conducted on the seized computer units revealed the illegal activities of the Subjects like romance scam, fictitious messaging accounts, fraudulent cryptocurrency schemes and fake investment solicitations,” it added.
The NBI said the operation was conducted after NBI-NCR received “an intelligence report that groups of foreign nationals are engaged in Investment Fraud, Crypto Asset or Crypto Currency Scam, Artificial Intelligence scam and High Yield Investment Program (HYIP), Romance scam and identity theft through the use of social engineering scheme and digital communication systems.”
“In response, operatives of NBI-NCR conducted surveillance operations, which confirmed the veracity of the information,” it said.
Following the conduct of surveillance operations, NBI-NCR secured from the court last Jan. 13 a WSSECD, it also said.