NBI to deport German national for violating immigration laws

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is set to deport a German national who is facing 67 counts of large-scale fraud for allegedly swindling customers at his online auction website.

Claro de Castro Jr., chief of the NBI-Interpol Division, said they are now coordinating with the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for the summary deportation of Victor Graff Kolvenbach, 47.

The German Federal Police, through their Asia-Pacific liaison office based in Jakarta, Indonesia, asked the NBI to locate and deport Kolvenbach. He was arrested recently in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

Castro said they secured a mission order from the Bureau of Immigration and proceeded to Kolvenbach’s house at City Homes Subdivision and confiscated his passport.

"He violated our Immigration laws, he is an overstaying alien (as a tourist he should have stayed in the country for only 21 days), and he has a pending case in Germany," Castro said.

The NBI-Interpol in its post operational report said that from March 10, 2002 to June 6, 2004, Kolvenbach, who is from Troisdorf, Germany, allegedly offered to sell various goods in his auction site. However, he failed to deliver the goods after they were paid for.

He reportedly defrauded his foreign clients as 50,000 Euros. From June to September last year, he has reportedly also fraudulently acquired at least 80,000 Euros through money transfers.

Kolvenbach arrived in the country on April 26, 2005. The NBI checked their Master Name Index File and discovered that he had no derogatory record. Since his operations involved the Internet, four of the Interpol’s agents began surfing various websites.

They eventually entered the e-Bay website and learned that a certain "Victor Kolvenbach" was registered in July 17, 2005, though his account was suspended because of fraud cases.

The authorities gathered information that the suspect allegedly used the e-mail address [email protected]. He also listed his cellular phone number and and his address in Cavite.