Philippine police yesterday said they arrested 42 Taiwanese who allegedly ran an online blackmail syndicate that defrauded victims in China and Taiwan by duping them into believing that their bank accounts have been used by money launderers or terrorists.
The arrests of 42 Taiwanese and two Chinese suspects are the latest success scored by a Philippine government crackdown with help from Interpol and foreign governments but they also show how cybercrime groups have continued to flourish in the Philippines
In 2012, Philippine police arrested 380 suspected members of a blackmail syndicate, including 291 Taiwanese, 86 Chinese and a new Zealander in the largest number of single-day arrests in a crackdown on online fraud.
The Philippines has been trying to build a capability to deal with the cybercrimes, but police say more have to be done, including strengthening legislation.
“In the past, criminals only used guns,” Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa of the national police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group said. “Now their weapons are computers, wireless phones and all sorts of telecommunications devices.”
“It takes time, but we’ll get to them with better technology and help from foreign counterparts,” he said.
The 44 latest suspects were arrested in two hideouts in central Iloilo province on Wednesday by police and immigration agents. Several laptop computers, telephone sets and other telecommunications devices used by the syndicate were confiscated, police officials said.
An initial police raid in one hideout led to the arrest of 23 Taiwanese, including two women, who were caught while engaging some victims online. However, three unidentified syndicate members fled by car to another hideout, where police arrested 21 other suspects, including two Chinese, Sosa said.
Sosa said that authorities were considering whether to deport the suspects to Taiwan to face criminal charges here.
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