Korean-led telco scam busted

The National Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday arrested five people, including a Korean national, for allegedly running illegal bypass call operations from a building in Pasay City, the agency disclosed yesterday.

The NBI said the syndicate was headed by Soon Haeng-Park, who faced charges of theft and violation of the e-commerce law. Also charged were Park’s Filipino employees identified as Jennifer Jairque, Jennelyn Dellosa, Carlet Santos and Christine Remegio.

The bureau was alerted to the group’s operations following a complaint from telecom giant Smart Communications Inc.

Mark del Rosario, external counsel for Smart, said the company lost about P1 million in revenues because of the group’s activities.

NBI agents raided two units at JSL Building in Leveriza that allegedly served as the group’s base of operations and seized several pieces of equipment that could make international calls register as domestic calls.

Del Rosario said the confiscated items also included thousands of SIM cards from Smart and other telecom companies. Nancy Carvajal