By Brian Jules Campued
A South Korean fugitive wanted for telecommunications fraud was nabbed by Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga on Monday, Jan. 8.
The bureau’s Border Control and Intelligence Unit (BCIU) intercepted 35-year old Lee Seunggon at the airport where he would depart on a flight bound for Incheon, South Korea.
In a news release on Thursday, Jan. 10, the agency said Lee’s arrest came after his name prompted a positive hit in the BI’s database of undesirable aliens.
BCIU’s Interpol team revealed that an arrest warrant was already issued by the Suwon district court in South Korea almost a year ago.
It further added that an Interpol red notice was also released three months later which resulted in Lee’s deportation case filed by the BI last June 2023, the BI added.
According to the Korean authorities, Lee became involved in a voice phishing syndicate between March to May 2021 that randomly calls unsuspecting victims while posing as lenders of financial institutions.
“The syndicate reportedly enticed the victims to transfer money to the suspects’ bank accounts by falsely offering low interest rates in exchange for timely payment of outstanding debts and processing fees,” the BI continued.
BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said Lee will remain at their warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City until his deportation.
“We will thus deport him as soon as we have secured the necessary clearances for his departure. He was already included in our blacklist to prevent him from reentering the country,” Tansingco said. – cf
