First Trial of Telecom Equipment Dealer Involved in 'Mask Fraud'... Partially Denies Charges

Seoul Central District Court / Photo by Honam Moon munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A businessman who was arrested and indicted for assisting an organized 'mask voice phishing' scam denied some of the charges at his first trial.

At the first hearing on the charges of aiding fraud against Mr. A (62), held on the 6th under the presiding of Judge Seongwan Jeong of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 14, the defense attorney stated, "We admit to the charge of mediating communication during the voice phishing crime," but added, "We deny the charges of altering phone numbers with the intent to obtain financial gain or aiding fraud."

Mr. A is accused of illegally mediating communication by manipulating the caller's phone number using a SIM box equipped with 54 'ghost SIM chips' created under other people's names from September 2018 to March of this year.

A SIM box is a device that can simultaneously hold multiple SIM chips. When connected overseas and used to make calls, the outgoing number is manipulated to appear as a domestic number, which is frequently used by voice phishing organizations.

According to the prosecution's investigation, Mr. A provided this SIM box to a voice phishing scam organization located overseas in January of this year, aiding them in committing fraud amounting to approximately 674.3 million KRW. The prosecution found that the scam organization posted online that they would sell masks in bulk, then used the SIM box to make calls deceiving victims and swindling money.

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