Crimes Committed Under Voice Phishing Deemed 'Not Guilty'

Court: "People Ignorant of the Law Should Not Be Persecuted"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A court acquitted a citizen who was unknowingly involved in a crime after being deceived by a voice phishing gang. The legal community evaluated the ruling as "a decision consistent with the constitutional principle of presumption of innocence."

According to the legal community on the 5th, Judge Gu Chang-mo of Criminal Division 3 at Daejeon District Court acquitted Mr. A, who was tried on charges of violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. Mr. A was indicted on charges of lending his check card to a loan company that proposed, "If you send your check card, we will directly handle the automatic repayment of the loan principal and interest in return."

Mr. A sent his check card but, upon confirming that suspicious lump-sum money was deposited into the linked account instead of the loan amount, he took measures to suspend transactions. It turned out that those who contacted Mr. A were members of a voice phishing gang. Mr. A testified to the investigative authorities that he did not know the people who contacted him were voice phishing criminals, but the prosecution argued that Mr. A lent the access medium (check card) in exchange for a promised reward and indicted him for violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act.

However, the court judged that Mr. A could not be held liable. It was determined that the act of exchanging the check card in this case was not a "rental for consideration" prohibited by law. The essence was that Mr. A was deceived by the claim that "loans can only be made through the payment card registration method, and to do so, the defendant’s check card must be sent in advance."

The court stated, "Is it his fault that he did not suspect someone else who promised to provide the loan until the end?" and added, "The law is originally intended to punish the wicked, not to persecute the ignorant or innocent. At least in this case, the state does not have sufficient evidence to punish the defendant."

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