BI nabs Korean-American wanted for telco fraud

INQUIRER file photo/Alexis Corpuz

MANILA, Philippines — A Korean-American wanted by authorities in Seoul for involvement in telecommunications fraud was arrested at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Sunday.

According to Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco, 37-year-old Jason Han Hsu was about to board a flight to Osaka, Japan, on July 17 when he was intercepted and stopped from leaving by immigration inspectors at Naia Terminal 3.

The foreign national was the subject of a red notice from Interpol that flashed on the computer screen of the BI officer at the immigration departure counter, where Hsu presented his passport and other credentials. Based on the Interpol website, red notices are “issued for fugitives wanted either for prosecution or to serve a sentence in relation to serious ordinary law crimes such as murder, rape and fraud.”

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“Upon confirming that the passenger and the subject of the Interpol notice are one and the same, the immigration supervisors on duty decided to put Hsu under arrest,” Tansingco said.

Hsu, a US passport holder, was later committed to the BI custodial facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, pending deportation proceedings.

Authorities alleged that from May 2018 to November 2019, he worked for a voice phishing syndicate that operated in China, from where it made calls to its victims in South Korea.

The victims were reportedly told they could borrow large amounts of money with low interest if they sent the amount of money they intended to loan to designated bank accounts owned by Hsu and his cohorts.

The BI said an estimated $1.06 million (P61.9 million) in profits were amassed by the syndicate through the scheme.

As a result of his impending deportation, Hsu will be placed on the BI blacklist of undesirable aliens and banned from re-entering the Philippines, the bureau added.