A SOUTH Korean fugitive believed to be a member of a syndicate operating a telephone fraud scheme in Manila was nabbed in Malate, Manila, according to the Bureau of Immigration.
BI Commissioner Jaime Morente identified the Korean as Hang Seun Hun, who was found to have fled to the country after he and three other cohorts were indicted for a telephone fraud scam, known as voice phishing.
Hang was arrested at Adriatico Street in Manila and is now detained at the BI jail in Bicutan, Taguig City pending deportation proceedings, Morente said, adding that the three other suspects who remain at large are now the object of a manhunt by BI agents.
BI-FSU chief Jose Carlitos Licas said Hang arrived in the country last Jan. 30 but did not bother to extend his 30-day visa before it elapsed.
Voice phishing refers to the criminal practice of using the telephone to gain access to private personal and financial information from the victim for the purpose of financial reward.
It is done, for example, when a caller imitates a bank officer or police investigator or prosecutor in attempting to acquire information about the call recipient’s bank account information to trick the latter into giving them money.
Voice phising is said to be a notorious practice in Korea where many victims have already fallen prey to perpetrators of the scheme, some of whom would demand money by threatening to harm the victim’s relatives or harass them with the prospect of being charged with criminal offenses.