People Who Thoughtlessly Participated in Voice Phishing... Ultimately Sentenced to Prison

20s Sentenced to 3 Years for Delivering Package for 100,000 Won
Claims Unaware of Voice Phishing Connection, But Receives Prison Term

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Individuals involved in a voice phishing organization and committing crimes have been sentenced to prison. Even those who played the role of delivering money for 100,000 won in cash or excused themselves by saying they "did not know it was a voice phishing organization" could not escape severe punishment.

According to the legal community on the 28th, Judge Park Jeong-gil of the Seoul Eastern District Court Criminal Division 11 sentenced A (27), a Chinese national accused of fraud, to three years in prison on the 17th.

A is accused of receiving a travel bag containing 200 million won in cash from B, the collector, in front of a restaurant in Jung-gu, Seoul, in July last year, and delivering it to C at a building in Geumcheon-gu after receiving a 100,000 won commission. In June last year, A started the role of cash delivery for the voice phishing organization after receiving a proposal via messenger stating, "If you deliver the cash to the person giving instructions, you will be paid 100,000 won per case as a commission."

The money A delivered was cash that B had obtained by deceiving D (50). The total damage to D was investigated to exceed 2 billion won.

In addition, A is also accused of delivering about 29.7 million won of other voice phishing victim funds to organization members in June last year.

A is also known to have filed an appeal. B was indicted for receiving cash from D, and C was indicted for delivering the victim's money to other organization members. They were sentenced to nine years and seven years in prison respectively in the first trial but are currently appealing.

Judge Park explained the sentencing reason, saying, "The defendant played the role of collecting and delivering victim funds in connection with the voice phishing criminal organization," and "Despite the victims suffering serious damage and the amount of damage being large, no victim recovery has been made, and the defendant did not sincerely repent for the crime."

In November last year, E, a man in his 20s who participated in a voice phishing organization and transferred money, was sentenced to one year and six months in prison and ordered to pay 16 million won in compensation.

E was tried on charges of receiving money from victims in the voice phishing organization and delivering it to the organization. He visited 10 victims in the Busan and Gyeongnam areas who had fallen for low-interest loan scams, collected a total of 160 million won, and sent it to the upper-level account of the organization.

During the trial, E claimed that he worked believing he was employed by a legitimate debt collection agency and did not know it was related to voice phishing. However, the court did not accept this, judging that E did not possess enough knowledge to be employed by a debt collection agency.

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