American wanted by Interpol, South Korea nabbed in Manila airport

AN AMERICAN national wanted by the Interpol and in South Korea for involvement in telecommunications fraud was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1, said the Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Thursday, May 16, 2024.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco identified the passenger as 62-year-old Shin Seung Chul, who was arrested on May 7 before he could board a Philippine Airlines flight to Narita, Japan.

Shin presented himself for inspection at the BI departure counter but his name prompted a hit in the BI’s Interpol system, which showed that he is a wanted fugitive from justice in Korea.

Shin was then arrested and later turned over to personnel of the BI-NAIA’s border control and intelligence unit who then brought him to the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa where he will remain while undergoing deportation proceedings.

Tansingco said Shin is subject of an Interpol red notice issued in 2016, indicating that he is wanted for fraud in Seoul involving 572 million won, or roughly more than US$418,000.

Shin allegedly conspired with two other suspects in defrauding a victim of his money by employing a scheme known as voice phishing.

The suspects made phone calls to a compatriot and pretended they were officials of a large banking institution investigating a money laundering case, as a result of which they were able to persuade the victim to deposit his funds into the suspects’ accounts.

A check of Shin’s travel record showed that he had been hiding in the Philippines for more than seven years, as his last record of arrival was on April 12, 2016.

The BI said that Shin arrived in the Philippines months before a warrant and an interpol notice was issued against him.

“He will be sent to Korea as soon as our board of commissioners issues the order for his summary deportation. He will then be placed in our blacklist and banned from re-entering the Philippines,” Tansingco said. (LMY/PR)