Philippines arrests 100 suspects in online scam farm raid

Philippine authorities arrested around 100 people on Friday in a raid on a suspected online scam farm in Manila.

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-Organised Crime Commission and the National Bureau of Investigation 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 $428.