THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Monday announced the arrest of three South Korean fugitives for their alleged involvement in telecommunications fraud.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the Korean nationals as 29-year-old Jin Unghyeon, 34-year-old Choi Sukhyun and 23-year-old Lee Seungsu.
The trio was caught by arresting agents in the act of manning and operating their computer workstations, which they used to defraud their victims through voice phishing.
BI-Fugitive Search Unit acting chief Rendel Ryan Sy said Jin is the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant issued by the Suwon district court in Korea after he was indicted for being an alleged member of a syndicate that swindled their compatriots of over $840 million since they ran their voice phishing racket in January 2017.
Jin is also subject of an Interpol red notice, which was issued following the court issuance of an arrest warrant against him in October 2019.
When BI operatives raided his condominium residence in Novaliches, Quezon City, Sy said they also found Choi and Lee allegedly being engaged in voice phishing.
Voice phishing involves the use of fraudulent phone calls to trick people into giving money or revealing personal information and is perpetrated by criminals pretending to represent a trusted institution, company, or government agency.
Further verification showed that Jin’s cohorts are overstaying aliens since their tourist visas have already expired.
Morente said Jin will be immediately sent back to South Korea as an order for his deportation was already issued against him by the BI board of commissioners in October last year while his two accomplices will undergo deportation proceedings.
“His two accomplices will be expelled as well after they are charged with violation of immigration law and undergo deportation proceedings,” the BI chief said. “Their names will then be included in our blacklist to prevent them from re-entering the country,” he added.