Chinese fugitive nabbed for fraud

MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese fugitive wanted for telecommunications fraud in Beijing has been arrested in Parañaque by the Bureau of Immigration.

BI agents apprehended Chen Yongzhou, 39, on Oct. 14 over his ties to a crime group that defrauded victims of about $706,000.

The Chinese embassy in Manila had requested the deportation of Chen, who is detained with a pending murder case at the Parañaque City Jail.

Chen is facing an arrest warrant issued by the Xinzhan branch of the Public Security Bureau in Hefei, China, the embassy said.

Authorities said he was part of a group that used WeChat for voice phishing.

“They persuaded victims to send gold to designated recharge points and invest in a fraudulent platform purportedly linked to the Shanghai Gold Exchange,” BI Fugitive Search Unit chief Rendel Ryan Sy said.

Based on BI travel records, Chen arrived as a tourist in the Philippines in June 2018 and has been overstaying.

Meanwhile, one of the alleged leaders of transnational criminal ring JP Dragon has been arrested by the BI.

Yamamoto Yoshitama, 57, was apprehended on Oct. 31 in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija.

JP Dragon is a Japan-based group comprised largely of former yakuza or gang members, believed to be operating in Metro Manila.

Japanese authorities suspect the group has defrauded about 250 elderly Japanese citizens of up to 900 million yen since 2019.

Yamamoto will be detained at the BI warden’s facility in Taguig pending deportation.

“The Philippines must never become a hiding place for foreign fugitives,” BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said.