99 arrested in Parañaque 'scam hub'

AUTHORITIES arrested 99 individuals during a raid in an alleged “scam hub” in Parañaque City on Thursday morning, August 22, 2024, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Major General Jose Melencio Nartatez said.

Nartatez said NCRPO operatives served a search warrant at a building on the corner of San Pedro and J. Maceda streets around 2 a.m., resulting in the arrest of 99 individuals, including the alleged owner, manager, and supervisor of the company.

In addition to the three company officials, 53 foreigners were arrested, including 48 Chinese, two from Myanmar, one Malaysian, one Indonesian, and one Vietnamese, along with a total of 32 Filipinos.

Nartatez said the operation was prompted by an intelligence report indicating that an establishment in Baclaran was involved in cryptocurrency investment and love scams under the guise of a licensed Pogo.

“Investigation disclosed that the company utilizes their CSRs (customer service representatives) in fraudulently portraying a character such as a wealthy model who would entice prospect victims to invest in the manipulated cryptocurrency exchange/trading platform, with fraudulent intent,” he said.

“While conducting inquiries to them, the Filipino nationals manifested that they (CSRs) were forced to work as scammer, while the models were being forced to dress in a seductive manner and perform lascivious conduct which the CSRs will portray in order to lure their prospect victim,” he added.

Charges for violations of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and the Securities Regulations Code of the Philippines will be filed against the arrested suspects. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)