Cops arrest credit card hacker

CEBU, Philippines - A suspected hacker, who allegedly uses the credit card of other people to make on-line purchases that he sells to other people at a very low price, was arrested in a police entrapment operation late Thursday afternoon in Cebu City.

The suspect was identified as Jerwin Gurrea Minglanilla, 25 years old, and a resident of Sitio Dawis, Barangay San Roque, Talisay City.

The victim, Dr. Wilson de la Calzada, a resident of Minglanilla, sought the assistance of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) when he learned from the issuing bank of his credit card that there were transactions made using his card.

The victim was surprised to get a text message last February 12 from his bank thanking him for a transaction, when he did not even use his card.

He immediately called the hotline of the credit card company to check and then asked that his card be cancelled and replaced.

He received his credit card bill last February 28 and saw that he was billed P72,523 for a transaction with an airline company.

At around 1 a.m. last Thursday, the victim along with officers from CIDG-7 led by Chief Insp. Fermin Armendarez III went to the Mactan Cebu International Airport to warn the airline company about the fraudulent purchase of tickets.

Later that morning, with the help of an official from the airline company, they were able to identify 20 passengers, who purchased their ticket using the stolen card.

Four of the passengers admitted to buying their Cebu-Manila-Cebu roundtrip tickets at a promotional rate from a certain Jerwin for P1,000. 

They said that it was the second time they bought tickets from the suspect.

One of those who bought tickets agreed to help the operatives and contacted the suspect in the guise of wanting to buy two more tickets.

They agreed to meet at the parking area of a fastfood outlet in Barangay Punta Princesa, Cebu City later that afternoon.

Using marked money, the poseur buyer paid two P500 bills to Minglanilla, who was on board a heavily tinted vehicle, for the plane tickets. It was at this point that the police pounced on him and made the arrest.

Found in the suspect’s possession were several application forms for credit cards under various names, a photocopy of a Social Security System (SSS) identification card bearing de la Calzada’s name, and a credit card bearing the victim’s name.

During the investigation, the suspect tagged three other computer engineers, who he identified by their first names as Gerald, Edgar, and Jerry, as involved in their ring.

Minglanilla admitted that he managed to hack the victim’s credit car through the Internet.

Armendarez said the suspect could get credit card information from a single target in a matter of 2 to 3 hours via the Internet.

He also said that they are looking at the possibility that some agents of credit card companies could be in cahoots with the suspect.

The victim said that there could be more transactions charged to his card.

Minglanilla is currently detained at CIDG-7 stockade and will face charges for violating Republic Act 8484 or the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998 and another case for estafa.–/NLQ (FREEMAN)