Two Cameroonian nationals have been arrested in Pampanga for allegedly defrauding a South Korean investor of ₱42 million worth of cryptocurrency, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announced on Thursday, Nov. 27.
The suspects were identified as Vitalys Awa Njinwa (also known as Johnson Brown) and Pensiga Derick Sama (also known as Stephane Andre Obame).
They were apprehended on Nov. 20 during an entrapment operation conducted by the NBI Pampanga District Office (NBI-PAMDO), with support from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Clark Development Corporation–Public Safety Division (CDC-PSD).
Following the operation, both suspects were brought before the Mabalacat City Prosecutor’s Office for inquest proceedings on allegations of robbery/extortion and estafa.
According to the NBI, the case stemmed from a complaint filed by a South Korean national who claimed he was deceived into sending 731,750 USDT — roughly ₱42.4 million — for what he believed were legitimate fees related to a gold transport operation from Nairobi, Kenya, to Incheon, South Korea.
The complainant said the suspects demanded payments for supposed customs processing, cargo insurance, warehouse fees, and other fabricated costs. They reportedly provided falsified documents, including fake landing permits and air waybills, along with videos and photos of alleged gold bars to convince the investor that the shipment was being held by the Bureau of Customs–Port of Clark.
However, during the investigation, the Bureau of Customs confirmed that the air waybill presented by the suspects did not exist in the agency’s Electronic-to-Mobile (E2M) system and that no such shipment arrived at Clark International Airport.
The complainant further stated that the suspects threatened to withhold the shipment unless he paid an additional $1,000,000 (about ₱58 million) as a supposed bribe for a Bureau of Customs official.
Realizing he had been scammed, the victim sought assistance from NBI-PAMDO, prompting the entrapment operation that led to the arrests.
