MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police arrested 44 foreigners who allegedly ran an online blackmail syndicate that defrauded victims in China and Taiwan by duping them into believing that their bank accounts have been used by money launderers or terrorists, police said Thursday.

The arrests of 42 Taiwanese and two Chinese suspects are the latest success scored by a Philippine government crackdown with help from Interpol and foreign governments but they also show how cybercrime groups have continued to flourish in the Philippines. In 2012, Philippine police arrested 380 suspected members of a blackmail syndicate, including 291 Taiwanese, 86 Chinese and a new Zealander in the largest number of single-day arrests in a crackdown on online fraud.