Man wanted for cyber fraud in Korea nabbed at NAIA

MANILA, Philippines — A Korean national wanted in his home country for cyber fraud was intercepted at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Bureau of Immigration (BI) reported Thursday.

The Korean national was identified as 36-year-old Yun Kyungmin. He was about to leave for Hong Kong via NAIA Terminal 2 last December 19 when intercepted by immigration authorities.

In a report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, BI port operations division chief Grifton Medina said that Yun’s name was found in the Interpol’s database of wanted foreign fugitives.

A red notice was issued by the Interpol in December 2018 regarding Yun’s legal case.

BI said the Korean government had also canceled his passport and a warrant for his arrest was issued by the district court in Daejeon in South Korea.

According to lawyer Rommel Tacorda, BI’s border control and intelligence unit (BCIU) chief, Yun’s case stemmed from his alleged involvement in an illegal call center in Dalian, China, which defrauds Korean nationals.

Yun and his cohorts allegedly defrauded more than 2.2 billion won or nearly US$2 million from his 42 victims from 2016 to 2018.

“Cybercriminals resort to the fraudulent schemes by attempting to steal sensitive information through phone calls that seem legitimate, thus victims are duped into believing that the call is from a trusted source,” BI said in a statement.

“Usually, the suspects would call their victims and pretend to be police detectives or prosecutors.  They would scare the former with threats of arrest and prosecution and instruct them to deposit money into bank accounts owned by the cyber fraudsters,” it added.

Following the arrest, BI said Yun was booked to the next flight to South Korea where authorities there were waiting for him.

Edited by KGA