16 Taiwanese nabbed in Philippines on fraud charge
Apr 3, 2013, 5:27 AM
MANILA, Philippines (AP) – A Philippine official says 16 Taiwanese have been arrested in connection with an online scam aimed at stealing money from mostly Chinese and Taiwanese retirees.
The head of the Computer Crimes Division of the Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation, Ronald Aguto, said Wednesday that members of the group pretended to be bank employees and called up victims and got them to reveal their account numbers.
He said others pretended to be prosecutors and convinced victims into settling a non-existent complaint by depositing money into a syndicate’s account.
The arrests took place Tuesday in three separate houses inside the Subic Bay Freeport west of Manila.
Police arrested and deported nearly 300 Taiwanese and Chinese nationals involved in a similar scam last year.
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