MANILA: Spanish authorities arrested more than 450 people in a attack on an reportedly Chinese-run offshore game controller in Manila, the country’s anti-organised violence committee has said.
Following the Thursday ( Feb. 20 ) raid, which saw 137 Chinese nationals detained, the commission said after initial interrogations suggested the suburban site had been operating as a scam center, targeting victims in China and India with sports betting and investment schemes.
Five Chinese leaders were among the five people we arrested, payment main Gilberto Cruz told AFP on Friday, adding that they were facing possible trafficking charges.
Banned by President Ferdinand Marcos last month, Philippine online gambling operators, or POGOs, are said to be used as include by organised crime organizations for human trafficking, money laundering, website scams, kidnappings and even death.
Despite the ban, Cruz said,” This attack shows that the former POGO employees are also trying to carry out their con.
Since the online gambling ban, he originally reported to AFP that about 21, 000 Taiwanese citizens have continued to conduct smaller-scale fraud operations there.
In recent years, global concern has grown over comparable swindling schemes in other Asian countries, which are frequently led by trafficking victims who are defrauded or coerced into promoting phony cryptocurrency investments and other con.
In the run-up to the midterm elections in May, President Marcos has criticized Rodrigo Duterte’s reported sensitivity of the websites as proof of a too-cozy connection with China.
Thursday’s attack is the latest in a series of statues this season, including one in January that saw around 400 immigrants arrested in the money, including some Chinese citizens.
In a May 2024 review, the Washington-based think container United States Institute of Peace claimed online phony accounts that target millions of victims all over the world and generate US$ 64 billion in annual revenue.