Alleged Parañaque scam hub raided

Authorities arrested 14 people — including a Chinese woman — and rescued a teenage girl after raiding an alleged online scam hub in Parañaque City recently.

A team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s Anti-Organized Crime Unit and the Department of Justice–Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking served a search warrant at the Bayport West Garden Residences in Barangay Tambo.

Police said the suspects were actively engaged in scamming activities when the raid occurred and they confiscated a variety of electronic devices, including 70 desktop computers, mobile phones and peripherals, and a metal vault.

They also discovered cryptocurrency account numbers and recovered dormitory IDs and passports.

Meantime, the 17-year-old girl rescued during the operation was turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The suspects are facing charges for violating the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, the Expanded Human Trafficking Act, the Cybercrime Prevention Act and the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act.

Police said the scam typically operated through the messaging app Telegram. Each suspect managed up to 600 Telegram accounts to contact potential victims. The victims were sent a link and directed to a “task job” that assigned simple online tasks, such as liking hotel package pages.

After completing the tasks, victims were instructed to create and deposit funds into a Binance cryptocurrency account. The scammers then directed victims to transfer the money to an account allegedly managed by the arrested Chinese woman, promising continuous growth of their investment. Once the victims were convinced to transfer a certain amount, the suspects would steal the money.

“I commend the CIDG Anti-Organized Crime Unit and DoJ-IACAT for their swift and responsive action that resulted in the arrests of the suspects and the rescue of the minor victim,” Police Brigadier Gen. Christopher Abrahano said.