Police Crack Down on Criminal Organizations Including Voice Phishing... 267 Arrested

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 24th that, as a result of a special crackdown on domestic and international telecommunication financial fraud criminal organizations from November last year to February this year, a total of 267 members from 38 organizations were arrested, of whom 85 were detained. This crackdown targeted key members subject to the crime of organizing a criminal group under the Criminal Act, including call center counselors who play a central role in the crimes, middle managers, currency exchangers, and heads of the organizations.

According to the police, the number of arrests during this special crackdown period increased by 112% compared to the same period a year ago (126 people). By role, 21 heads of organizations, 190 counselors, and 22 categorized as 'others' were apprehended. Notably, the number of counselors arrested increased by 252%. The police explained, "Recently, as criminal organizations have become more specialized and organized their members minimally without appointing separate managers, the number of middle managers arrested decreased from 65 last year to 34 this year."

Examining the locations of the arrested criminal organization call centers by country, China (22 centers) accounted for the largest share at 57%, followed by the Philippines (10 centers), and others (6 centers). The number of members arrested in China was 176, accounting for about 67%. Next were the Philippines with 68 and others with 23. Regarding the roles of the arrested members, the majority were telephone counselors at 71%, followed by middle managers (12%) and heads (8%).

Additionally, during this special crackdown, the police cooperated with overseas law enforcement agencies to arrest 85 individuals locally abroad. The police reported that as a result of this comprehensive crackdown on domestic and international criminal organizations, criminal activities have been suppressed, and related damages have sharply decreased. A police official stated, "We will actively strive to strengthen cooperation capabilities with overseas law enforcement agencies to ensure that criminal organizations continue to be arrested locally abroad."

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