The raid in the Makati financial district was part of a crackdown against online crime operators that often act under the guise of gaming firms.
Agents from the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the National Bureau of Investigation, armed with assault rifles, surrounded two offices of a lending agency and arrested the suspects as they worked side-by-side at computers.
The suspects, many of them young Filipinos, allegedly sought out victims via TikTok and other social media, offering collateral-free loans of up to 25,000 pesos ($428).
Borrowers were charged 35 percent weekly interest and those who fell behind on payments were harassed, humiliated and threatened with having their personal information spread online, PAOCC director Gilberto Cruz told reporters at the scene.
"Some of those they harassed developed mental problems, others fell into depression, and there have even been some suicide incidents that occurred because of the harassment perpetrated by these people," Cruz said.
The suspects could be charged with fraud and other violations under the country's cybercrime laws, he added.
The raided company, Wewill Tech Corp., required victims to provide personal information and family photographs, which the scammers then used for threats, according to Cruz.
Some victims of similar scams have reported having coffins and funeral wreaths delivered to their homes, he said.
Authorities are checking the nationality of the owners, Cruz said, adding that they had arrested Chinese suspects running similar operations in the past.
The scam farm owners are suspected to be remnants of online gaming operators that were banned under orders of President Ferdinand Marcos last year, he said.
"Most of their keyboard workers are Filipino" and communicated with victims in the local language, Cruz told reporters.
"What is frightening here is it is Filipinos who are harassing and defrauding their fellow Filipinos," he said.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has tagged Southeast Asia as "ground zero" of global scamming operations that the authorities say are run mainly by Chinese-origin crime organisations.
Philippines arrests five more Chinese for 'spying'
Manila (AFP) Jan 30, 2025 -
Philippine security officials said Thursday they took into custody five more Chinese spies, following the arrest of a compatriot for espionage this month.
The arrests come as confrontations between the two Asian neighbours over contested reefs and waters in the strategic South China Sea have escalated in recent months.
Two men were arrested at Manila airport last week after they allegedly conducted surveillance on Filipino navy and other government vessels supplying military garrisons in the disputed Spratly archipelago.
The men, using a drone and high-resolution solar-powered camera, recorded activities at a naval base, a coast guard station, an air base and a dockyard in Palawan province, the closest major lan director Jaime Santiago told a joint news conference.
"We consider them very dangerous to national security because of course, if this falls into other hands, this could be very dangerous for our personnel in the base and also those on board our ships," Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner told the news conference.
The spies disguised themselves as buyers of marine products or members of legitimate organisations.
Two other Chinese men were separately arrested elsewhere in Manila and another in the central city of Dumaguete last week, Santiago said.
It followed the arrest this month of a Chinese software engineer named Deng Yuanqing and two Filipino associates suspected of spying on military and police camps -- allegations that were dismissed by the Chinese embassy in Manila.
NBI cybercrime unit chief Jeremy Lotoc said a witness told the authorities Deng met with the five detained suspects once a month, acting on instructions from an unnamed "foreign national" in China.
Brawner said it was premature to conclude that the spying was state-sponsored, with Filipino authorities yet to identify the end-receiver of the intelligence gathered.
"This is perhaps just the tip of the iceberg, many can still be caught doing these activities," Brawner said. "There are more of them."
Some of the suspects have been living in the Philippines since 2002 and did not have any criminal records, immigration bureau spokeswoman Dana Sandoval told the news conference.
Security officials paraded the five suspects, handcuffed to each other, before the media along with the confiscated "military-grade" spying equipment.
Beijing claims most of the strategic South China Sea despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment on the fresh arrests.
On Saturday, it described the spying allegations against Deng as "baseless speculation and accusation".
The mission said it asked for its consul to visit the detained man, and urged Manila to "protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in the Philippines".
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