The Cash Collector in a 45 Million Won Voice Phishing Scam Acquitted... "Failed to Prove Reckless Intent"

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] A man in his 20s who acted as a cash collector for voice phishing and embezzled about 45 million won was acquitted. The court judged that the defendant did not recognize that the acts he was involved in were related to voice phishing.

According to the court on the 12th, on the 2nd, Judge Lee Jong-kwang of the Criminal Division 4 of the Seoul Northern District Court acquitted Park (20), who was indicted on fraud charges.

On December 31 last year, at around 10:50 a.m., Park impersonated a financial institution employee at a restaurant located in Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi Province, and embezzled 15 million won in cash from victim A. Before meeting Park, A had received a call from an unidentified member of a voice phishing scam organization, who said, "You can get a loan of up to 100 million won from OO Bank at an annual interest rate of 2.3%."

When A responded that he would take the loan, another phone lure later impersonated an OO Card employee and said, "If you take out a loan without settling your debt with OO Card, it violates the Financial Transactions Act. You must repay the debt of 13.6 million won in cash, so hand the cash to Park, the cash collector we send."

Moreover, on the same day at 6:10 p.m., Park embezzled 30.4 million won in cash in a similar manner in Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi Province. At that time, the phone lures impersonated bank and card company employees and told victim B that failing to repay the debt and applying for a loan would violate the Financial Transactions Act, so they should hand the cash to Park, the cash collector.

However, the court ruled that Park, who acted as the cash collector, was not guilty. For conditional intent, the person must recognize the possibility of the crime occurring and have the intention to tolerate the risk of the crime occurring, but this was not the case.

The court stated, "Whether the actor tolerated the possibility of the crime occurring should be based on specific circumstances such as external acts or situations," and "Based on the evidence submitted by the prosecution alone, it is difficult to recognize that the defendant even conditionally recognized or foresaw that his acts were part of a voice phishing scam."

According to the court, Park, born in 2002, was 19 years old at the time of acting as a cash collector and was about to enlist after graduating from high school. Before enlisting, he was working part-time at a convenience store and doing tile work, and he was offered a cash collection part-time job on a job site. The person who offered the job was Officer C from an administrative office, who explained to Park that he should take orders from Team Leader D.

While working as a cash collector, Park followed Team Leader D's instructions, told victims he was a bank employee, or did not reveal his identity. Also, while collecting debts, he paid for taxis with his own credit card, which could expose his identity. Later, Park found it strange when Team Leader D told him to delete KakaoTalk or Telegram messages they had exchanged, and he even sent the 4 million won allowance given to him to Team Leader D before quitting the job.

The court explained, "Based on these facts, it is difficult to suspect that Park suspected Team Leader D was a member of a voice phishing organization rather than an administrative office employee," and "Especially considering that the defendant was 19 years old and had only part-time experience at a convenience store, it is doubtful whether he even knew about the existence of the crime called voice phishing."

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