401 aliens in ‘scam’ ops nabbed

Authorities arrested 401 foreign nationals suspected of involvement in an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hub in a seven-story building in Pasay City, Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) announced on Thursday.

“The majority of those arrested were foreign nationals — 207 Chinese, 132 Vietnamese, 24 Koreans, 14 Indonesians, 11 Malaysians, 12 Burmese and one from Madagascar,” Cruz said in a radio interview.

All told, 453 individuals were taken into custody, including 52 Filipinos.

The raid was conducted by the PAOCC with the Department of Justice Office of Cybercrime (DoJ-OoC), the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the Pasay City Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO).

The authorities said the establishment had initially operated as a legal POGO but had transitioned to scamming activities, including love scams and investment fraud. Seized were SIM cards, text blasters and multiple computer units suspected of being used in phishing schemes.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last year banned POGOs over their alleged links to criminal activities like murder, kidnapping and extortion, among others.

“They had equipment here that could blast a lot of messages. We suppose these also sent out phishing links. It’s a matter of examining and looking for the correct data based on a valid search warrant,” CIDG Director P/Maj. Gen. Nicolas Torre III said.

Pinoys involved

Initial investigation by the DoJ-OoC found records of e-wallet transactions indicating that both foreigners and Filipinos had fallen victim to the scams, with reported individual losses ranging from P70 to P5,000.

“This is even more worrying because there were Filipinos involved. So that means their victims were not just foreigners. They were also victimizing Filipinos right here in our country,” DoJ-OoC head agent Inna Protacio-Ladislao said.

Some of the suspected POGO workers attempted to evade arrest by hiding in air conditioning ducts and fire exits. Cruz said the individuals did not reside in the building but were transported to and from it regularly.

All foreigners linked to POGO firms had been ordered to leave the Philippines before the end of 2024, but many have not done so. This week, a boy reportedly kidnapped by a POGO-linked syndicate was rescued by police in Parañaque City. The abductors had severed his finger to force his parents to pay a ransom.

Past POGO raids led to the discovery of families left behind by the fleeing foreigners, including 27 children and several pregnant Filipino women. A collaborative effort with the Department of Social Welfare and Development is in place to assist them.