Voice Phishing Organization Caught While Conducting 'Location Tracking Experiment' on 119

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] A voice phishing gang that was testing whether location tracking is possible through 119 emergency calls was instead tracked down by the police and arrested in large numbers.

The Gwangjin Police Station in Seoul announced on the 10th that they had arrested eight members of a voice phishing organization after conducting an investigation for a month from last month to this month.

The members were found to be composed of those managing mobile phone SIM cards used for voice phishing, passport collectors, and couriers who delivered activated SIM cards to China. Three sellers who activated the SIM cards were also booked together.

On July 13, they made a false report to 119 claiming they were being held captive somewhere. The police, unable to locate the reported place, checked the caller's identity and found it suspicious that the mobile phone was registered under a foreigner’s name, leading them to the mobile phone agency that had activated the SIM card. At this agency, hundreds of SIM cards registered under foreigners’ names from countries such as China and Vietnam were activated, and there was evidence that these SIM cards were being sent to China.

The police regarded this as a preparatory step for voice phishing activities in Korea and continued the investigation centered on the mobile phone agency, arresting a total of eight people by early this month.

Meanwhile, it is known that they extorted about 20 million won from one victim through voice phishing.

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