MANILA: Philippine authorities arrested around 100 people on Friday in a raid on a suspected online scam farm in Manila they said extorted victims.
The raid in the Makati financial district was part of a crackdown against online crime operators that often act under the guise of gaming firms.
Agents from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, or PAOCC, and the National Bureau of Investigation, armed with assault rifles, surrounded two offices of a lending agency and arrested the suspects as they worked side-by-side at computers.
The suspects, many of them young Filipinos, allegedly sought out victims via TikTok and other social media, offering collateral-free loans of up to 25,000 pesos ($428).
Borrowers were charged 35 percent weekly interest and those who fell behind on payments were harassed, humiliated and threatened with having their personal information spread online, PAOCC director Gilberto Cruz told reporters at the scene.
“Some of those they harassed developed mental problems, others fell into depression, and there have even been some suicide incidents that occurred because of the harassment perpetrated by these people,” Cruz said.
The suspects could be charged with fraud and other violations under the country’s cybercrime laws, he added. The raided company, Wewill Tech Corp., required victims to provide personal information and family photographs, which the scammers then used for threats, according to Cruz.
Some victims of similar scams have reported having coffins and funeral wreaths delivered to their homes, he said.
Authorities are checking the nationality of the owners, Cruz said, adding that they had arrested Chinese suspects running similar operations in the past.
The scam farm owners are suspected to be remnants of online gaming operators that were banned under orders of President Ferdinand Marcos last year, he said.
“Most of their keyboard workers are Filipino” and communicated with victims in the local language, Cruz told reporters.
“What is frightening here is it is Filipinos who are harassing and defrauding their fellow Filipinos,” he said.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has tagged Southeast Asia as “ground zero” of global scamming operations that the authorities say are run mainly by Chinese-origin crime organizations.
Philippines arrests 100 suspects in online scam farm raid
https://arab.news/ggnj7
Philippines arrests 100 suspects in online scam farm raid
Israeli court overturns conviction of officer who assaulted Palestinian journalist, citing ‘Oct. 7 PTSD’
- Judge sentenced Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service, saying officer “devoted his life to Israel’s security” and conviction was “disproportionate to severity of his actions”
- Footage shows Sofer throwing photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque
LONDON: An Israeli court overturned the conviction of a border police officer who assaulted a Palestinian journalist, ruling his actions were influenced by post-traumatic stress disorder from serving during the Oct. 7 2023 attacks.
On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court sentenced officer Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service for assaulting Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf in occupied East Jerusalem in December 2023.
Footage shows Sofer and other officers drawing weapons, throwing Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque amid heavy restrictions.
Alkharouf was hospitalized with facial and body injuries. His cameraman, Faiz Abu Ramila, was also attacked.
Anadolu photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf violently attacked by Israeli army in occupied East Jerusalem while covering Palestinian prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) December 15, 2023
Incident highlights ongoing restrictions on Friday prayers and press freedom in region https://t.co/exT6XqjEaA pic.twitter.com/pqugK9HnOt
Sofer had been convicted in September 2024 of assault causing bodily harm (acquitted of threats) and initially faced six months’ community service, as recommended by Mahash, the Justice Ministry’s police misconduct unit.
Judge Amir Shaked accepted the defense request to cancel the conviction, replacing it with community service.
He cited Sofer’s PTSD from responding to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, noting the officer had “no prior criminal record” and had “devoted his life to Israel’s security.”
“The court cannot ignore this when considering whether the defendant’s conviction should stand,” he said, adding that while the incident is “serious and does cross the criminal threshold,” the conviction in place could cause Sofer harm “disproportionate to the severity of his actions.”
The ruling comes amid surging attacks on journalists in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since Israel’s war on Gaza began.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported Israel responsible for two-thirds of the 129 media workers killed worldwide in 2025, the deadliest year on record, citing a “persistent culture of impunity” and lack of transparent probes.
Reporters Without Borders called the Israeli army the “worst enemy of journalists” in its 2025 report, with nearly half of global reporter deaths in Gaza.
Foreign journalists face raids, arrests and intimidation. In late January 2026, Israel’s Supreme Court granted a delay on ruling a ban on foreign media access to Gaza.
