Viral exposé forces Philippine authorities to probe alleged scam hub

The Philippines’ Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) has launched an official investigation into a suspected scam operation

The Philippines’ Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) has launched an official probe into a suspected scam hub operating in Cebu following a viral exposé by YouTube content creator mrwn.

In a 23-minute video that has clocked up 2.7 million views on YouTube and is spreading rapidly across social media, mrwn hacked into the scam center’s computers and CCTV system to expose what appears to be a fraud ring operating out of a call center-style office.

According to mrwn, the operation is estimated to earn $800,000 annually, with agents defrauding victims overseas through various methods, including stealing credit card data and coercing victims to transfer cryptocurrency via Bitcoin ATMs.

To confront the scammers, mrwn posed as the operation’s financier, calling an agent’s computer through a messaging platform.

The office descended into chaos, with agents seen panicking and ignoring the call before contacting their floor manager, who then phoned the alleged boss using his mobile. Upon confirming the caller wasn’t legitimate, the manager blocked the account.

Mrwn then sent live CCTV images of the office to the agents, prompting them to evacuate. The floor manager retreated to his private office, where mrwn used the built-in microphone of the manager’s laptop to speak to him directly.

Local crypto news outlet BitPinas pointed out that the manager’s screen had email notifications of maintenance and login alerts from crypto exchanges Binance, Netcoin and local platform Coins.ph, raising further suspicion of cryptocurrency’s role in the operation.

Mrwn shared screenshots of his attempts to contact various Philippine government agencies. Most went unanswered, except for the Department of Justice, which advised filing a local police report. This was not feasible for mrwn as he is not based in the Philippines. One viewer emailed mrwn expressing frustration over the prevalence of scammers in the Southeast Asian country and the lack of government action.

However, the video’s virality appears to have finally sparked a response.

“We want to reject the notion that the Philippine government does not act in the face of adversity,” DICT Assistant Secretary Renato Paraiso said in a virtual press conference, directly addressing mrwn while vowing to launch an official investigation.

“The investigation of mrwn has provided good leads, and in fact, we have several persons of interest already that we would pursue our investigation and hopefully we can attribute certain crimes with them and we would get their locations and apprehend them.”

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