8 Israelis, 474 Filipinos allegedly into fraudulent online deals arrested

June 7, 2018

Eight Israelis and 474 Filipinos allegedly involved in a multi-million dollar online stock trading scam were arrested by operatives from the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) at the Clark Freeport Zone in Angeles City on Wednesday.

PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde said operations were conducted at three buildings of  International Branding Development Marketing Inc., a company where its employees are allegedly involved in fraudulent financial transactions.

The 474 Filipino employees, consisting of 232 males and 242 females, were arrested during the raid which started at around 11 a.m Wednesday and ended by 6 a.m. Thursday.

The Filipinos were caught doing online transactions with foreign clients from Europe, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Russia.

The company has been operating for two and  a half years  in the guise of a call center firm from London in the United Kingdom.

“On the average, their transaction is almost $1 million a day,” Albayalde said in a press briefing in Camp Crame.

The operation stemmed from the complaints of four victims, three from Australia and a South African who claimed they were duped by the suspects.

“Their modus operandi is like a stock trading scam, meaning they  invite investors through online. So again after that, they will get details of your bank accounts, credit cards,” said ACG director Chief Superintendent Marni Marcos.

The suspects would ask their victims to download TeamViewer, a software for remote control, desktop sharing, online gaming, web conferencing and file transfer between computers.

“The transfer of money will be done through online. They will be the one controlling the transfer of money,” he explained.

Albayalde said they are investigating how the suspects have been operating for more than two years without securing a permit from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“That will be part of the investigation and we will verify why they were allowed to operate that long,” he said.

The suspects were brought to Camp Crame where they are facing charges of syndicated estafa under the Revised Penal Code and violation of  the Cybercrime Prevention Act. DMS