A raid by the combined forces of the PAOCC, PNP, and DoJ on 6 March 2025 of a POGO hub in Makati found an empty office, when the raiders were expecting to arrest “over 600 foreigners.” The tip was “based on a mission order from the Makati City government’s business permits and licensing office.” (Source: Philstar, 8 March 2025)
This implied that an insider had forewarned the POGO hub hours in advance of the scheduled raid.
“According to PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert Cruz, the POGO workers were seen running to the ground floor to exit the PBCom Tower at the corner of Ayala and V. Rufino Avenues between 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.,” the news report said.
A key deep-penetration agent (DPA) had obviously sounded the warning. It is important for the raiding team to identify and arrest this DPA through their own intel to avoid future foul-ups. It is possible, however, that even if he or she is caught, there will be other DPAs to replace them. So, it will be back to square one.
Bribe money for DPAs, even in the millions of pesos (or dollars) is peanuts to a big-time multi-million to a few trillion-peso POGO operation. The damage of the raid to the illegal POGO operation is thus minimized, since they have virtually unlimited funds and can quickly set up shop at a new location, where their security would be far stricter, and the number of DPAs perhaps doubled.
We are sure the raiding triumvirate is learning new lessons as they increase their raids. Most important is to have a “leak-free” security protocol beyond the reach of DPAs. An arrested DPA will give a lot of critical information, so it is important to grill them intensely.
PAOCC intel reports, according to Director Gilbert Cruz, showed “about 21 companies working as scam centers in the building.” This implied the POGO hub has a sophisticated coordinated building-wide network.
How long had the POGO been operating there before it was finally raided? How vast are these illegal POGO hubs nationwide, we wonder. If they are just a handful, that would be ideal. But what if they are extensive? The raiding party must look into this aspect as a long term goal.
The raiding party confiscated “computers, cellphones, subscriber identity module cards, scripts for scamming people,” which would give important leads on the POGO modus operandi. The raiding team said the POGO hub was involved in investment and cryptocurrency scams. But how precisely? This is important to investigate in detail as it may yield new leads.
It is suggested that the raiding party set up a team of combined IT specialists to be trained by the US FBI or cyber security agencies abroad, especially in the US. Their identities would have to be top secret, so they would be unreachable and thus “unbribable” by the POGO networks.
Networking with cyber security experts abroad is important. Perhaps the raiding teams can send their experts for arranged tours abroad to acquire more expertise in their specialized work, through DFA channels perhaps.
The raiding teams must acquire expertise not only in cyber security and espionage but in related security protocol, too.
Congratulations to the PAOCC, PNP and DoJ for their successful raids of the powerful POGO communities. More power to you, guys.