A law enforcement raid on a Pasay City fraud hub exposed how transnational criminal syndicates utilize local bases to execute high-value parcel scams against foreign nationals across Southeast Asia.
Operatives of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) arrested a Chinese national and two Malaysians during a Tuesday morning operation along Cuneta Avenue, while securing 159 foreign workers, mostly Vietnamese, inside the facility.
Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla and PNP chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. inspected the site on Tuesday afternoon following the operation.
PNP Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said during a press briefing that police launched the operation after three Indonesian workers managed to flee the compound and alert authorities.
“There were three Indonesian nationals who escaped from the premises, and they sought assistance from the Philippine National Police,” Nartatez said.
Police identified the arrested Chinese suspect as the supervisor overseeing the site’s daily operations.
CIDG-National Capital Region chief Col. John Guiagui said the criminal group focused its operations on foreign targets, particularly citizens from Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
“They have not victimized people here in the Philippines. They victimized their fellow Vietnamese, Indonesians, and Malaysians. But the center of their operation is here in the Philippines,” Guiagui said.
Explaining the syndicate’s operational scheme, Guiagui noted that scam hub employees initially contacted victims while posing as courier service personnel to report an incoming package delivery.
Secondary operators posing as law enforcement officers then placed video calls to the victims, claiming the delivery agent was detained for transporting illegal drugs.
The operators subsequently informed victims that their names were tied to an ongoing criminal investigation and warned that their personal property could be frozen by state authorities, Guiagui explained.
To execute the extortion phase, a separate tier of operators acting as sympathetic police officers offered to intervene and prevent property freezing or clear non-existent criminal records.
Guiagui added that these operators would request access to the victims’ personal financial and bank account statements.
“If they see they can scam something, they’re going to give an account number (to deposit fees in exchange for their services),” Guiagui said.
“Once a deposit is made, that’s it. Thank you. Your money is already gone,” Guiagui also said.