Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents have arrested a South Korean fugitive believed to be a member of a syndicate operating a telephone fraud scheme in Metro Manila that have victimized many of his compatriots in his country.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime H. Morente said Hang Seun Hun, 27, was collared last last week by operatives from the BI’s fugitive search unit along Adriatico Street in Malate, Manila.
Morente disclosed that Hang and three other Korean fugitives have been on the BI’s wanted list since August when immigration violation charges were filed against them for being fugitives from justice and undesirable aliens.
Hang is presently detained at the BI jail in Bicutan, Taguig City, pending deportation proceedings, Morente said, adding that the three other suspects who remains at large are now the object of a manhunt by BI agents.
Morente said Hang will be deported as he and his cohorts are subjects of an outstanding arrest warrant that a Korean court issued against them.
According to lawyer Jose Carlitos Licas, BI-FSU head, Hang is already an overstaying alien as records showed that he arrived here last Jan. 30 and did not bother to extend his 30-day stay before it elapsed.
Licas said Hang and his accomplices were all indicted for engaging in telephone fraud scam, also known as voice phising.
Voice phishing refers to the criminal practice of using the telephone to gain access to private personal and financial information from the victim for the purpose of financial reward.
It is done, for example, when a caller imitates a bank officer or police investigator or prosecutor in attempting to acquire information about the call recipient’s bank account information to trick the latter into giving them money.
Voice phising is said to be a notorious practice in Korea where many victims have already fallen prey to perpetrators of the scheme, some of whom would demand money by threatening to harm the victim’s relatives or harass them with the prospect of being charged with criminal offenses. (Jun Ramirez)