5 Taiwanese fraud suspects nabbed in Marikina City

Five Taiwanese suspected members of a fraud gang were arrested in Marikina City after months of collaboration between Philippine and Taiwan authorities. A report of Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) said National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents, acting on information provided by Taiwan, raided a suspected hideout in Marikina on Tuesday. CNA said the five Taiwanese, from 21 to 31 years old, claimed that they were from Taichung, Taiwan, and did not speak English or Filipino. Authorities seized five notebook computers, a desktop computer, mobile phones and communication devices, and P1 million, the report said. NBI suspected the arrested Taiwanese targeted people in China because they found a document containing Chinese phrases that include the words for “police station" or “People’s Court," CNA said. Investigators suspect the fraud ring operates by placing calls to unsuspecting victims and informing them that their bank accounts had been hacked. They then convince the victims to transfer money to another account set up by the fraud ring. The CNA report said some 100 suspects from Taiwan and China have been caught since January, including 14 in the last two weeks alone. Earlier this year, the arrest of a batch of Taiwanese fraud suspects threatened to disrupt Philippine-Taiwan relations after the suspects were sent to mainland China. Taiwan threatened to impose restrictions on Filipinos planning to work in Taiwan, but was appeased when the Philippine government replaced key Immigration Bureau officials. - VVP, GMA News