THE BUREAU of Immigration has deported 10 Japanese fugitives who were wanted by authorities in Tokyo for their involvement in a 2 billion yen or about P1-billion telecommunications fraud.

“All of them are now banned from re-entering the Philippines as a result of their inclusion in our immigration blacklist of undesirable (foreigners),” Immigration chief Jaime H. Morente said in a news release on Thursday.

The 10 were arrested on Nov. 13, 2019 in a hotel in Makati City where they were caught in the act of engaging in “voice phishing and telephone fraud activities.”

Voice phishing is the use of fake phone calls wherein the caller pretends to be a someone from a trusted institution, company, or government agency to trick people into giving the callers money and revealing personal information for further crimes.

According to Japanese authorities, the 10 fugitives are alleged members of a crime syndicate in Japan that victimized Japanese citizens and caused “significant damage to Japanese society.” — Bianca Angelica D. Añago

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