14 Nigerians held for fraud

MANILA, Philippines — Immigration officers have arrsted 14 Nigerians said to be involved in credit card fraud and other online scams in Las Piñas City.

“Our intelligence division has been closely monitoring these foreigners. They were reportedly involved in love scams, online scamming and credit card fraud,” Bureau of Immigration (BI) Intelligence Division chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. said over the weekend.

Godswill Nnamdi Chukwu, 32, and Justin Chimezie Obi, 30, were the BI’s initial targets, Manahan said. But 12 other Nigerians were nabbed during the operation for overstaying in the Philippines.

They are being held at the BI detention facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig pending their deportation.

Chinese deported to Phl

Meanwhile, a Chinese trafficking victim posing as a Filipino has been apprehended by immigration officials after arriving on July 12 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1.

The 40-year-old Chinese, alias “King,” was repatriated from Myanmar to the Philippines.

King reportedly holds a permanent resident visa here.

He left the Philippines in July 2023 and traveled to Thailand using a Chinese passport, as advised by recruiters.

From Thailand, he went to Myanmar with three other Chinese nationals to work at a scam hub and only received a month’s compensation.

King paid his recruiters more than P32,000 for his release.

Thai authorities detained him for three months before deporting him to the Philippines.

King is being held at the BI facility in Taguig pending his deportation.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said these incidents happen when Chinese migrants take shortcuts to get Philippine citizenship.

“We are glad that government agencies and lawmakers are already looking into the issue. This is a national security concern that needs to be addressed, lest it be abused by foreign nationals with malicious intent in the Philippines,” Tansingco said. — Rudy Santos