July 20, 2011. Manila. AGENTS of the National Bureau of Investigation swooped down on two big houses in Parañaque City at around 4 a.m. Wednesday and arrested 38 Taiwanese nationals suspected to be part of a big online fraud syndicate.
A total of 25 Taiwanese were collared at Lot 1, Block 5, Galatia Street, Multinational Village, Parañaque City while 13 others were nabbed in a raid at No. 421 Orbit Street, Aeropark, Don Bosco, Better Living Subdivision, also in Parañaque City.
Based on earlier reports, those arrested were cohorts of some Taiwanese and Chinese nationals who were deported to China as members of the same syndicate.
In an interview by media, Head Agent Palmer Mallari, chief of the NBI Technical Investigation Division, said some of the 38 Taiwanese were even naked and engaged in sexual acts when agents barged inside their safehouse.
He said they are yet to establish the identities of the suspects because they wrote their names in Chinese characters.
Several credit cards were also confiscated during the raids in both houses. They have the capability to hack on “merchants’ accounts” through the “merchants’ website.”
Once the suspects enter the website, they are able to hack into credit card accounts. They commit fraud via transfer of account from the credit card to Paypal, then to a bank account in Manila and withdraw the money in the country using any Automated Teller Machine. The syndicate members pose as legitimate businessmen and sell non-existent products to victims who use credit cards. Both houses have a semblance of a call center. There were many computers and internet connections and routers.