14 Members of International Fraud Ring Arrested for Impersonating Diplomats and Soldiers to Embezzle Billions

Photo by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The police have apprehended an international fraud organization that impersonated overseas deployed soldiers, diplomats, and others to swindle billions of won from victims.

The International Crime Investigation Division of the Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 8th that they arrested 14 members of an international romance scam fraud ring from Liberia and other African countries. The suspects used SNS to impersonate overseas deployed soldiers, diplomats, and doctors, built friendly relationships, and then swindled billions of won from victims. Among them, 10 were detained.

The suspects, from around February to October this year, deceived victims by falsely claiming that customs fees were required to send assets to Korea, receiving and embezzling remittances ranging from 1 million won to several hundred million won from 24 victims, totaling 1.67 billion won.

Mostly composed of African foreigners, they divided roles domestically as withdrawal managers, withdrawal agents, and managers of bank accounts under false names. Following instructions from the ringleader overseas, they withdrew the money sent by victims and either remitted it abroad again or used it for living expenses or luxury goods purchases.

In particular, to evade police investigations, they wore hats and masks when withdrawing the stolen money and frequently changed clothes. They also used bank accounts under foreign names, and when a withdrawal agent was caught, they recruited new agents to continue their crimes.

After receiving intelligence in cooperation with the National Intelligence Service in March this year, the police recovered 96.55 million won of the stolen money directly during the arrest process. They also analyzed deposit records of accounts used by the suspects, identified additional victims, and guided them to stop sending money, preventing further damage.

Most victims were middle-aged or older, and some victims were confirmed to have deposited additional money unwillingly to recover previously sent funds.

The police are continuing to investigate additional crimes committed by the arrested suspects. They also plan to identify the personal information of the overseas ringleader through these suspects, issue an INTERPOL red notice, and promptly secure the ringleader’s custody through close cooperation with local law enforcement agencies.

A representative of the International Crime Investigation Division of the Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency stated, "We will continue year-round, ongoing crackdowns on foreign crimes such as romance scams to prevent the inflow of overseas criminal organizations into Korea and to block the formation and organization of criminal groups among foreign residents in Korea."

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