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PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) announced today that 10 Chinese and 26 Filipinos were arrested as part of two separate operations in Laguna and Paranaque City against illegal gaming and online scams since Tuesday.
On Tuesday, May 1st, 16 people were arrested in Binan, Laguna for running a Facebook raffle that was illegal. The raiders come from the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group and PAGCOR Security Group.
The suspects who run the FB Page Lucky Dream 4 were caught in their office, located within a subdivision, while livestreaming their fiftyth raffle event.
Earlier today (May 2), a group of suspects, including 10 Chinese nationals, were arrested inside a house in Multinational Village in Paranaque by elements from the CIDG NCR and PAGCOR for violating the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act (9208), Alien Registration Act (562), and Cybercrime Prevention Act (10175).
PAGCOR’s Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco stated that the arrests were part of PAGCOR’s increased campaign against illegal online gaming and other illicit activities by strengthening collaboration with law enforcers.
We have received reports of illegal activities online, including those on social media platforms. He said that as the gaming regulator of the country, it was our duty to protect people – and especially youth – from illegal online gambling websites.
Raul Villanueva, Senior Vice President of PAGCOR’s Security Cluster and Raul Villanueva’s direct report for the Security Cluster, said that Lucky Dream 4 had 111,000 Facebook followers. The company was running live online raffles with second-hand modified bikes as prizes.
Villanueva stated that the group could sell 40,000-50,000 tickets in a single raffle, each ticket costing Php40.
Villanueva stated that they have amassed more than Php8 Million since they began this illegal online operation. In one draw they can sell up to 50k tickets.
“Ang masaklap nito, karamihan sa miyembro ng grupong ito ay kabataan. Ang pinaka-matanda sa kanila ay 27 years old pa lang,” he said.
The Lucky Dream 4 group has clearly engaged in illegal online gaming activities. Negosyo na ang ginagawa nila. If they wish to run an online gaming platform, they must obtain a PAGCOR license,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva stated that authorities arrested seven Chinese men and three Chinese women in the raid at Paranaque. They were believed to be part of a group who managed to escape an earlier raid conducted on a large gambling compound located in Bamban (Tarlac) last March.
Nine Filipino workers were also saved, and one Filipino male bodyguard arrested for possessing an undocumented pistol of.45 calibre.
The raiders also seized around 75 mobiles phones, 30 desktop computers and 50 laptops as well as assorted credit cards. Two cars and one motorbike were also confiscated along with various Chinese government documents.
In the exclusive subdivision, two vaults were found at the house located on 18 Teheran street.
The police said that the Chinese suspects had been involved in scamming, such as cryptocurrency and love scams. These activities were similar to those found in the Bamban compound in Tarlac which was raided in March.
