"Filling Empty Bank Accounts with Money" Online Cafe Investment Scam Led by 20s Arrested

Busan Yeonje Police Station Arrests 6 for Embezzling 700 Million Won in High-Yield Investment Scam, Total 11 Detained

Photos and posts posted on online cafes, etc., by an investment fraud group to lure victims. [Image source=Busan Police Agency]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] An investment fraud group led by a man in his 20s who deceived people into guaranteeing high returns through online cafes and swindled 770 million won has been arrested.

The Cyber Investigation Unit of the Yeonje Police Station in Busan announced on the 26th that they arrested six people, including the mastermind in his 20s, Mr. A, on charges of information and communication network intrusion fraud, and apprehended a total of 11 members of the organization.

They are accused of stealing the profiles of real financial experts, including a certain asset manager and a certain CEO, and opening several Naver cafes from August 2020 to April 2021, deceiving members by saying, "We will place proxy bets on Nanum Lotto Powerball and FX margin trading to pay high returns."

According to the police, when victims requested withdrawal of profits, they induced additional deposits under the pretext of deposits and fees. If victims suspected fraud, they forcibly expelled them from the cafe.

They divided roles such as promotion team and withdrawal team among themselves as seniors and juniors in the neighborhood. It was revealed that all the money swindled from the victims was squandered on online gambling funds.

To gain the trust of victims, they commissioned professionals to arbitrarily inflate the number of Naver cafe members.

After purchasing hundreds of hacked Naver accounts, they lured victims by posting fake promotional posts on the cafe bulletin board claiming "I made a big profit."

The police stated that hacked Naver accounts are being distributed through various messengers such as Telegram at 700 to 800 won per account.

Most victims were reportedly deceived by the promise of high returns and suffered fraud without even understanding the specific investment details.

A member of the investigation team warned, "Recently, due to the expansion of market liquidity and the investment boom, investment fraud disguised as various financial technologies is increasing in places like Naver cafes and KakaoTalk open chat rooms."

They also said that even if complex passwords are used for Naver accounts, hacking can occur, so it is necessary to strengthen account security to prevent personal accounts from being exploited for fraudulent crimes.

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