'Voice Phishing Gang with 107 Members Arrested: "Created an Inspection Room for Video Calls"'

Police Arrest 45, Detain 16
Embezzled 14 Billion Won from 322 People

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A voice phishing gang with over 100 members, who swindled approximately 1.4 million KRW in cash from hundreds of victims, has been arrested by the police. They even created a 'fake prosecutor's office' to deceive victims and operated systematically with offices in several Chinese cities, evading the investigation.

On the 20th, the Seongdong Police Station in Seoul announced that they had arrested 45 members of the voice phishing gang on charges of organizing a criminal group and fraud, among which 16 were sent to prosecution in custody. The remaining 29 were sent to prosecution without detention.

According to the police, from June 2018 to October last year, the suspects impersonated prosecutors and Financial Supervisory Service employees, deceiving 322 victims by saying, "Your account has been used in a crime, so please entrust the money in your account to a Financial Supervisory Service employee," and embezzled about 14 billion KRW. They also showed meticulousness by creating a room identical to a prosecutor's office to conduct video calls to deceive victims.

The gang committed crimes in an organized manner. Unlike previous voice phishing crimes where various organizations performed divided roles, this group integrated roles such as call centers, recruitment of fake bank account holders and cash collectors, money laundering, and personal information hacking within a single organization to increase criminal profits. They also established offices in seven Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai and were found to have 107 members.

After arresting a cash collector in May last year, the police captured the remaining members by analyzing calls between accomplices, KakaoTalk records, and financial transaction details. A police official explained, "Domestic members who have not yet been arrested are wanted, and international fugitives will continue to be apprehended through international cooperation such as Interpol red notices."

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