MANILA, Philippines — Seventeen Chinese nationals allegedly involved in scamming activities were arrested in Tagaytay City, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Thursday.

The arrest was prompted by a complaint from another Chinese national, who reported to law enforcers that a friends had been abducted, detained, tortured, and forced to take part in the illegal activities, NBI Director Jaime Santiago said.

“Through intelligence gathering, the victim was spotted in La Casa Rabina, Tagaytay City. Thus, on October 15, 2024, NBI-CCD, together with the operatives from NBI-Special Task Force (NBI-STF) and NBI-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-HTRAD), hatched a joint rescue operation,” the NBI said in a statement.

“Occupants of the premises were caught in flagrante delicto of engaging in scamming and money-muling activities, social engineering schemes, and other nefarious activities, with numerous workstations surrounding the area. Mobile phones, SIM cards, written scripts, and other customer ledgers painted with a vivid picture of organized deceit were also found,” the NBI added.

An examination of desktop computers used by the suspects revealed several scripts, messaging applications with fake accounts, bank accounts, and fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms.

These suggest massive fraudulent activities such as catfishing scams, credit card scams, cryptocurrency scams, and fake investment scams, the NBI said.

The foreigners were arrested for violation of the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022, and Social Engineering Schemes under Section 4(b)(1) and Economic Sabotage under Section 4(c)(1) of RA 12010 (Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act) in relation to RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012).

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