Philippine police says it arrested more than 450 people in a raid on an allegedly Chinese-run offshore gaming operator in Manila.
The country’s anti-organised crime commission revealed that initial interrogations suggested the suburban site had been operating as a scam centre, targeting victims in China and India with sports betting and investment schemes, noting that 137 Chinese nationals have been detained.
Commission Chief, Gilberto Cruz told reporters that his men arrested around five Chinese bosses, adding that they faced potential trafficking charges.
Cruz also expressed that the raid proves that the previous POGO workers are still trying to continue their scamming activities despite the ban, as he previously told reporters that about 21,000 Chinese nationals have continued to operate smaller-scale scam operations in the country since the online gaming ban.
Banned by President Ferdinand Marcos last year, Philippine online gaming operators, or POGOs, are said to be used as cover by organised crime groups for human trafficking, money laundering, online fraud, kidnappings and even murder.
International concern seem to have grown in recent years over similar scam operations in other Asian nations that are often staffed by trafficking victims tricked or coerced into promoting bogus cryptocurrency investments and other cons.
Meanwhile, President Marcos has put POGOs at the centre of recent campaign messaging in the run-up to May mid-term elections, framing predecessor Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged tolerance of the sites as evidence of a too-cozy relationship with China.
The raid is the latest in a series of busts this year, including one in January that saw around 400 foreigners arrested in the capital, including many Chinese nationals.
