“[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)... “[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.
Mr. Pagdilao said the suspect was wanted in the Philippines and in South Korea for large-scale Internet fraud. CIDG investigators discovered that Shin’s group hacked the servers of leading telecommunication companies and some private corporations.
Mr. Pagdilao withheld the names of the corporations pending the investigation.
The police said Shin was reportedly jailed in South Korea for three years for hacking the Korean Stock Exchange. He was also accused of a similar offense relating to the online databank of Hyundai Capital Corp., a Seoul-based financial service company specializing in auto financing, personal loans and home mortgage.
He allegedly blackmailed Hyundai Capital Corp. to pay a huge sum in exchange for not leaking the account information of 420,000 clients as well as 13,000 passwords from hacked customer loan accounts and credit rating information
The police further said Shin withdrew large sums of money from the credit card accounts of hundreds of clients based on data stolen from international and local banks, Mr. Pagdilao said.
Investigation led to the suspect owning up to hacking bank and credit card records as well as the e-mails of several defense officials for the past 11 years and for being part of a Korean mafia of hackers.
Mr. Pagdilao said Shin claimed that he was brought to the Philippines to develop illegal online casino programs tapped in mafia operations for years, adding that the CIDG has raided seven operations.
Shin also revealed that Korean mafias have been using Filipinos as “e-mules” for money laundering and credit card fraud operations, he said.
“[C]ybercrime is now the crime of the future because syndicates are utilizing sophisticated technology in which law enforcers in the country are lagging behind in terms of training and equipment,” Mr. Pagdilao said.
He asked Congress to prioritize the passage of the Cyber Crime Prevention Bill, and asked support to improve the technical capability of the CIDG Cyber Crime Unit. -- ASOA
Read more : http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=Philippines-a-‘safe-haven’-for-transnational-cybercime:-PNP&id=40392

Read more http://baypaynewsfraud.blogspot.com/2011/10/philippines-safe-haven-for.html