Philippines a 'safe haven' for transnational cybercime
WEAK LAW enforcement has made the country a “safe haven” for transnational cybercrime syndicates, a ranking police official said yesterday.
“[The] situation has become alarming as the country becomes a safe haven for cybercrime operators involved in cyber pornography, cybersex den, illegal gambling, credit card fraud and identity theft but the operating units could hardly deal with them because cybercrime operators, many of them foreign mafias, are aware of the present organizational and technical incapability of the country’s law enforcement agencies,” Director Samuel D. Pagdilao, Jr., chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said in a statement.
Recent operations against Korean mafias running illegal online gambling and credit card fraud operations showed the loophole in the system, the police official said. Mr. Pagdilao cited in particular the arrest of a Korean hacker wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). Shin Un-Sun, 38, was arrested by members of the CIDG’s Anti-Transnational and Cyber Crime Division on Oct. 4 in Barangay San Juan in Sto. Tomas, Batangas. He was caught hacking a corporate databank in his laptop.
