44 Chinese, Taiwanese charged with credit card fraud

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) charged 44 Chinese and Taiwanese before the Department of Justice yesterday for alleged credit card fraud.

The NBI identified some of the Taiwanese as Tsai Chen-Kai, Lin Hung-Chi, Zeng Zhi Jie, Hung Chen Hao, Chen Meng Wen, Luo Ai Ming, Tseng Tz-Sheng, Wu Jin-Fu, Yuan Da Hui, Zeng Yi Kun, Huang Jia Wei, Lin Chein Ming, Chien Cheng Yueh, He Siang-Chu, Huang Yi Cheng, LiuWei Lun, Wang Szu Yuan, Tang Kuo Hsuan, Zhou Hui-Yan, Xia Wen Xin, Luo Xiao Ting, Yuan Xin, Zhu Yong Lin, Zhang Lin Xia, Li Xiu Lin, Chen Xiao Yan and Liu Wen Le.   

The suspects, most of them in their early 20s, were arrested in two separate raids by the NBI in Don Antonio Heights and White Plains Subdivisions in Quezon City on Nov. 27.

Seized from them were skimming devices used in the production of fake credit cards. The suspects allegedly illegally obtain personal data of credit card holders via the Internet, hack into online purchases using credit cards, and use the same data to produce fake versions of the authentic credit cards.

In a report to Head Agent Palmer Mallari, chief of the Technical Intelligence Division (TID), the NBI said they received intelligence reports that a certain Richard Monfort and members of a Taiwanese-Chinese syndicate were engaged in credit card fraud.

The suspects were brought to the Quezon City prosecutor’s office for the filing of charges Thursday night, but an argument between a TID agent and a Quezon City prosecutor ensued. This caused a delay in the filing of charges.

The suspects face charges of violating Republic Act 8484, the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998.