Australian and Philippine authorities have conducted a major raid at a scam centre in Manila, arresting hundreds of people allegedly linked to a transnational romance scam racket.
Last year, Australians lost some $34.3 million to reported dating and romance scams – a scam vector which sees criminals disproportionately target senior Australians with false promises of romance or friendship.
With 3,652 victims reporting romance scams to Scamwatch in 2023, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) saw fit to launch a dedicated crackdown operation in August of this year.
Dubbed ‘Firestorm’, the operation stationed some 30 AFP members in South-East Asia to collaborate with local law enforcement – a move which culminated in over 250 arrests during a 3 October raid on a scam compound in Manila.
Philippine law enforcement agencies executed the search warrants primarily for suspected immigration violations coming out of the scam centre, enabling two AFP members and a Manila-based AFP liaison officer to search the compound for intelligence on Australian romance scam victims.
The AFP reported local authorities arrested more than 190 foreign nationals during the raid, alongside some 68 Filipino nationals, for alleged immigration offences.
Authorities further seized over 300 “computer towers” – suggesting the scam centre was equipped for at least 300 workers – before further seizing more than 1,000 mobile phones and thousands of SIM cards.
More than 1,000 mobile phones and 300 computer systems were seized, police say. Photo: AFP / Supplied
The surplus of mobile phone hardware was particularly notable given the top contact method for scams in Australia this year was via text message.
While the AFP did not provide much detail on the suspected attacks coming out of the scam centre, it is alleged “men over the age of 35 years” were targeted on social media and dating applications.
Scammers would gradually build trust with these victims before asking them to invest in fraudulent cryptocurrency trading platforms – suggesting activity consistent with the increasingly popular “pig-butchering” scam vector where targets are ‘fattened up’ through gradual investments and false returns before eventually having their money swindled.
To ensure Australians were appropriately duped by these romance and investment scams, the alleged scammers worked shifts to align with domestic time zones, police said.
The AFP reported its technical workers, alongside cryptocurrency experts, the Philippines Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), were now collecting information about who was targeted and the methods used to extort victims.
As further evidence becomes available, the Joint Policing Cybercrime Collaboration Centre (JPC3), in partnership with the National Anti-Scam Centre (NASC), will contact potential Australian victims.
A ‘significant milestone’
AFP assistant commissioner David Mclean said the raid was a “significant milestone”.
Marking the first time investigators had accessed a scam centre compound during Operation Firestorm, McLean said the raid enabled the AFP to gather “valuable intelligence” on the structure of such call centres, how they target Australians, and “ways to help identify victims”.
Authorities said thousands of SIM cards were seized during the raid. Photo: AFP / Supplied
“A large portion of cybercrime affecting Australians originates offshore, and this action shows how the AFP and its international partners are proactively taking the fight to these syndicates where they operate,” McLean said.
“We commend the PAOCC and NBI for their work in identifying this boiler room and taking swift action to shut it down.
“I thank them for the trust they have shown in the AFP by allowing us to work with them.”
McLean added that a pivotal AFP cryptocurrency expert was “given a unique insight” into the money laundering structures operating within similar cybercrime hubs.
“That will be immensely helpful in developing our strategies in combatting this crime impacting Australia,” said Mclean.
