Jeju Police Operate Dedicated Phone Financial Fraud Team... 35 Arrested, 6 Detained

Published 17 Nov.2021 15:08(KST)

[Jeju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Jeongpil] The Jeju Police Agency (Chief Kang Hwangsu) announced on the 17th that it has operated a ‘Face-to-Face Extortion Type Phone Financial Fraud Tracking Investigation Team’ for the past three months, arresting 35 people out of 109 cases since its establishment, and detaining 6 of them.

The age group of the arrested suspects was highest in their 20s at 40.0% (14 people), and the gender distribution of suspects was 68.6% male (24 people) and 31.4% female (11 people).

Also, the suspects’ residences were 60.0% (21 people) outside the province and 40.0% (14 people) within the province, and the total amount of damage collected by the suspects was confirmed to be approximately 1.5 billion KRW.

The victims’ age groups were mostly in their 50s at 37.9%, followed by those aged 60 and above at 31.8%, and the gender ratio of victims was 53.0% male and 47.0% female.

Regarding the amount of damage per victim, 34.8% suffered losses of 10 million KRW or less, 35.4% suffered losses of 20 million KRW or less, and 12.1% suffered losses of 30 million KRW or less, with over 50% of victims experiencing losses of 20 million KRW or less.

A major arrest case was made by the Jeju East Police Station on September 7, when Mr. A (36 years old, male) sent a text message offering a low-interest loan to the victim, deceived the victim by saying that existing loans had to be repaid after a phone consultation, then met the victim in front of the victim’s residence the next day and received 8 million KRW, leading to his arrest and detention.

At the Seogwipo Police Station, on the 13th of last month, Mr. B (51 years old, male) was arrested for impersonating a prosecutor’s investigator, deceiving the victim by claiming that the victim’s bank account was used in a crime but that all withdrawable funds had to be handed over to a Financial Supervisory Service employee, and extorting 40 million KRW from the victim.

Mr. B was caught when a financial institution employee suspicious of the large deposit amount reported to 112 (emergency number) while Mr. B was depositing the extorted money at an ATM.

The Jeju Police stated that since operating the tracking investigation team in the Criminal Division this year for face-to-face extortion type phone financial fraud occurring recently in Jeju, the arrest rate of so-called ‘collectors’ who collect money from victims has significantly increased, and the number of incidents is decreasing.

In particular, due to active arrests of collectors and the effect of preventive publicity, voice phishing organizations are increasingly using people living outside the province as collectors because they cannot secure collectors within the province.

The Jeju Police plan to operate a damage sharing system with financial institutions called ‘Phishing-Siren’ that immediately notifies the financial institution where the victim withdrew cash upon receiving a damage report, and will continue preventive publicity and tracking activities to eradicate phone financial fraud.

A Jeju Police official said, “To prevent phone financial fraud, if you witness multiple attempts to withdraw or deposit cash nearby or see cash being exchanged, please actively report and provide information. Loan advertisements made by phone should always be suspected as phone financial fraud, and no financial institution will ever meet you in person to receive cash directly.”