Philippines deports 312 Chinese, detains 36 Japanese in crackdown on phone scams
- The Chinese nationals were among 512 foreigners who were arrested last month during a raid on an illegal outsourcing office in Metro Manila
- Other workers arrested in that raid came from Myanmar, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Indonesia
The office was allegedly conducting telephone scamming operations, using phishing techniques to defraud or extort their victims, mostly Chinese nationals from the mainland.
The rest of the arrested individuals were being held at a police facility pending their deportation, Manahan added.
Immigration chief Commissioner Jaime Morente warned foreigners against using the country as a base for their illegal activities.
“Let this serve as a warning to aliens planning to use the country as a base for their illegal operations,” he said. “Expect more arrests in the coming days.”
Philippines arrests 542, mostly Chinese, in crackdown on illegal workers
Based on information from Japanese investigative authorities, the immigration bureau detained the men at a hotel in Manila on Wednesday afternoon and transferred them to detention facilities, the sources said.
The group is believed to have operated from multiple locations in the Philippines, the sources said.
Four Japanese suspected of involvement in the phone scam were arrested by Tokyo police earlier after returning to Japan, according to Japanese investigative sources.
In a separate case, Japanese police arrested 15 Japanese earlier this year for alleged involvement in a phone scam targeting people across Japan that was operated out of a rented luxury house in the Thai beach resort of Pattaya.
Additional reporting by Kyodo
