Police Launch 100-Day Special Crackdown on 'Crimes Infringing on Ordinary Citizens' Lives' Including Fraud and Domestic Violence

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The police have classified voice phishing and other telecommunication financial frauds, as well as domestic violence, as 'crimes infringing on the livelihood of ordinary people' and have launched a large-scale crackdown.

The National Police Agency announced on the 16th that it will conduct a special crackdown on 'crimes infringing on the livelihood of ordinary people' for 100 days from April 17 to May 26. During this period, the police will focus on cracking down on representative crimes that infringe on people's livelihoods, such as telecommunication financial fraud (voice phishing, messenger phishing, etc.) and domestic violence (drunken violence, assault on medical personnel, home intrusion, etc.), as well as intensively arresting wanted fraud suspects.

Telephone financial fraud cases increased by 10.4%, from 34,132 cases in 2018 to 37,667 cases last year. In particular, the total amount of damage surged by 58.4%, from 404 billion won to 639.8 billion won. Since telephone financial fraud causes enormous damage to an unspecified large number of ordinary people, the police plan to concentrate investigative capabilities on related crimes. First, focusing on the telecommunication financial fraud dedicated investigation teams currently operating nationwide with 30 teams and 174 personnel, the police will concentrate on arresting the masterminds. One violent crime team in 18 police stations will be responsible for arresting middle managers and lower-level members involved in offline receipt-type crimes. For organizations based overseas, the police plan to track down the masterminds through international cooperation, including requests for extradition of foreign criminals.

Regarding domestic violence, the police explained that they will respond strictly by comprehensively investigating the extent of damage, motives, risk of reoffending, and additional crimes when the offenses are habitual or target socially vulnerable groups. The main crackdown targets include ▲ livelihood-infringing drunken and extortion violence ▲ assault on drivers ▲ assault on medical personnel ▲ assault in workplaces, etc. ▲ home intrusion. The police will also activate community cooperation policing through resident meetings and reporting channels, while simultaneously protecting and supporting victims and conducting preventive criminal activities.

Finally, the police have organized tracking teams in 94 police stations nationwide to take charge of tracking and arrest activities, focusing on pursuing and arresting suspects wanted for fraud charges. This is part of the police’s plan to prevent further damage by apprehending various fraud criminals. A National Police Agency official said, "As the responsibility of police investigations has increased, we will do our best to fulfill the police’s role in protecting the public from the dangers of crime."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.