37 foreign con artists fall

MANILA, Philippines - At least 37 members of a transnational fraud syndicate were arrested in Parañaque City Sunday by a joint team of police officers from the Philippines and China, police said yesterday.

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group chief Director Samuel Pagdilao Jr. said a 15-man delegation, led by Major Zhou Tian Ping of the Wu Xi City police, went to the CIDG headquarters in Camp Crame two weeks ago to seek help in neutralizing the syndicate.

By using the Internet, the group will call an unsuspecting victim in China to introduce themselves as members of Chinese police. The suspects would then tell the victims that their bank accounts were being used for money laundering and other terrorist funding activities.

The syndicate will then tell the victim to transfer their money to a “safe account” that the suspects will provide. Most of the victims have agreed out of fear from any action “police authorities” will do if they refuse to comply.

The joint Philippine-China police team raided 30 Scotland street in Better Living, arresting 15 suspects, then proceeded to 10 Galatia street in Multinational Village, apprehending the remaining suspects.

Of the arrested suspects, 21 are Taiwanese while the rest are from mainland China.