{"id":777023839,"date":"2025-03-07T09:47:08","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T12:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777023839"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:04:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:04:28","slug":"former-offshore-gaming-operator-guard-arrested-for-allegedly-selling-imsi-catchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/former-offshore-gaming-operator-guard-arrested-for-allegedly-selling-imsi-catchers","title":{"rendered":"Former offshore gaming operator guard arrested for allegedly selling IMSI catchers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The former guard allegedly purchased the IMSI catchers from his former employer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- The Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) has arrested a man for allegedly selling International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers. The man is reported to be a former security guard at an offshore gaming operator that closed after the ban on such operations. According to authorities, the suspect bought the\u00a0telephone eavesdropping devices from his former employer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a press conference held at Camp Crame, ACG chief brig. gen. <strong>Bernard Yang<\/strong> said the man, advertised the sale of the device worth PHP600,000 on social media. He said, \u201cDuring their cyber patrol, they were able to chance upon the seller. This was seen on a social media platform where the group is from former offshore gaming employees or operators.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>Once connected, the phone tracker can gather IMSI numbers from devices, which allows it to track their location and activities and intercept text messages, calls, and data traffic. It can send mass SMS messages without needing a database, SIM card or WiFi and could be used for scamming or spreading disinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The suspect will face charges under the Cybercrime Prevention Act, the Philippine Radio Station and Radio Communication Act, the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act, and the Data Privacy Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Philippine president \u201cwould not hesitate\u201d to ban inland online gaming operators<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>President<strong>&nbsp;Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.&nbsp;<\/strong>could impose a ban on&nbsp;<strong>Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGOs)<\/strong>&nbsp;if they are found to be causing issues similar to those that led to the shutdown of offshore gaming operators.&nbsp;<strong>Claire Castro<\/strong>, undersecretary of the presidential communications office, made the statement after senate president<strong>&nbsp;Francis G. Escudero<\/strong>&nbsp;called for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senator-calls-for-review-of-inland-online-gaming-licences\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a cost-benefit analysis<\/a>&nbsp;to ascertain whether PIGO licences&nbsp;should continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Castro said the government is monitoring the situation and conducting studies to evaluate the effects of PIGOs and would make comparisons with the operations of offshore gaming operators to identify any emerging problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Castro said that \u201cfor now, the study shows that PIGOs have yet to cause or produce crimes\u201d and emphasised that while offshore gaming operators typically hire foreign workers, PIGOs employ mostly Filipinos, with 90 per cent of their workforce being local.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/08\/Star-Entertainment-Group-losses-its-legal-claim-against-Chubb-Insurance-300x200.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\"><span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-says-some-illegal-philippine-offshore-gaming-operators-remain-active\">PAGCOR says some illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators remain active<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former guard allegedly purchased the IMSI catchers from his former employer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":33583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Philippine authorities have arrested a former offshore gaming operator employee for selling IMSI catchers, devices capable of intercepting mobile communications, highlighting cybercrime risks within the sector. Concurrently, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. is considering a ban on Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGOs) if they are found to cause issues akin to those that led to the shutdown of offshore gaming operations, prompting a government review of PIGO impacts.","focusai_entities":"Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), Bernard Yang, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Claire Castro, Francis G. Escudero, PAGCOR","focusai_location":"Philippines, Camp Crame","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.7), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PIGO Ban Economic Impact?","query":"Given the President's statement, what specific governance frameworks and compliance measures are PIGOs implementing to demonstrably differentiate their operations from the issues that led to the offshore gaming ban, thereby mitigating the risk of a similar prohibition and ensuring economic contribution?"},{"label":"Cybersecurity Protocols for Operators?","query":"How will the PNP-ACG's successful interdiction of IMSI catcher sales influence the cybersecurity protocols and data privacy compliance requirements for licensed iGaming operators, particularly concerning employee vetting, asset management, and protection against sophisticated data interception threats?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777023839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777023839"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777023845,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023839\/revisions\/777023845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777023839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777023839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777023839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}