If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
Three Filipino call center agents have been sentenced to five months of jail time in Hong Kong over an alleged scam to lure them into opening fraudulent bank accounts, the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement yesterday.
The Filipinos were identified by Hong Kong-based Filipino community newspaper The SUN Hong Kong as Enrique Vargas, Ryan Illustrisimo, and Maureen Gutierrez.
The DFA said they were sentenced on Monday.
The three — who all professed not to know each other — arrived in the SAR on Oct. 9 after responding to what they say was an offer for a free trip to Hong Kong that they saw on social media. Vargas, 30, told the court that when he contacted the person making the offer, he found that it involved traveling to Hong Kong to open bank accounts.
Illustrisimo, 30, and Gutierrez, 23, said they took up the same offer.
When the three arrived in Hong Kong, they say they were met by locals who provided them with documents to use in setting up the accounts. Using the forged documents, they opened accounts at the Bank of China and Standard Chartered Bank. Authorities suspect the accounts were intended to be used for money laundering.
Despite successfully opening accounts at Standard Chartered, the three aroused the suspicions of officials at Bank of China, who noticed inconsistencies on their applications and suspected them of being forged. The bank suspended the accounts, and when the three returned to the branch on Oct. 12 to resolve the issue, they were arrested.
Philippine Consul General to Hong Kong Antonio Morales said the three are expected to be released in March “after serving a reduced sentence for pleading guilty to two counts of ‘using a false instrument’ before the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts.”
Morales said that the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has been giving support and legal advice to the three, including visiting them in jail to check on their condition.
