NBI rescues 200 Vietnamese from Olongapo scam hub

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Friday announced that some 200 Vietnamese were rescued from a scam hub in Olongapo City.

According to the bureau, operatives of the NBI-Pampanga District Office served a warrant to search, seize, and examine computer data and seize computers, mobile phones, and documents at the scam hub.

"Evidence recovered at the site shows that the hub was organized like a business. It ran round-the-clock shifts and had a dedicated payments desk that handled deposits and withdrawals and moved money through a network of bank and e-wallet accounts," it said in a statement.

The NBI said there were teams assigned to targets in the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, and Bangladesh.

It said the NBI is screening the rescued individuals to determine if any of them were victims of human trafficking.

"Those found to have been recruited through deception or held against their will will be treated as victims under Republic Act No. 9208, as amended," the NBI said.

It added that the NBI is coordinating with the Bureau of Immigration, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, and the Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The NBI is also coordinating with the Anti-Money Laundering Council to identify and freeze the accounts used in the operations.

Meanwhile, the bureau said that it was preparing complaints against the individuals who organized, managed, and financed the operation for violations of the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act, Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001, as amended.

"We are working overtime in our fight against scam hubs and transnational online fraud. We will not stop at seizing computers and scripts. We will look into bank accounts, e-wallets, and the people who rent them out," NBI Director Melvin Matibag said.

"We are following the money from this facility to every account that carried it. Anyone who lends an account to these operations will answer for it under the law," he added. — VDV, GMA News