2 foreigners face deportation over money laundering, cybercrime

MANILA, Philippines — Two foreign nationals, wanted in their countries, have been arrested by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) due to charges of money laundering and cybercrime.

In a press release on Monday, the BI said that they arrested the two foreigners, who are now facing deportation to their countries, in separate operations in Makati and Parañaque last week. 

One of the foreign nationals is Taiwanese Li Ming Hsiu, 44, who has a warrant of arrest in Taiwan for allegedly violating the country’s anti-money laundering law.

Citing Taiwanese prosecutors, Li is said to be  a member of a syndicate that committed large-scale money laundering since 2023 when it operated multiple scamming centers in Taiwan and other countries.

According to the BI, the money laundering scheme by Li’s syndicate defrauded victims of more than P78 billion pesos.

The other foreigner, South Korean Joo Han Wong, 39, is the subject of an Interpol red notice after being allegedly involved in cybercrime activities in South Korea.

An Interpol red notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.

However, the Interpol clarified that it is not an arrest warrant.

Meanwhile, Joo supposedly collaborated with other individuals to create a computer program used for hacking and unlawfully acquiring personal information from more than 66,500 personal messaging application accounts. 

The stolen data was reportedly sold to a third party, who then used it for voice phishing and other telecom fraud activities targeting numerous victims, according to BI.

The BI also stated that the two foreign nationals had their passports revoked by their respective governments, rendering them undocumented.