Voice Phishing Mastermind Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison... Unusually Severe Punishment

A court sentenced the mastermind behind voice phishing crimes committed in China to 20 years in prison. This is considered an unusually heavy sentence, the harshest in court.

On the 20th, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office Joint Investigation Team for Voice Phishing Crimes (led by Kim Ho-sam) announced that the first trial court sentenced Kim Mo (45), who was charged with being the mastermind of a voice phishing crime organization, to 20 years in prison and a fine of 575.22 million won. The other 11 accomplices received sentences ranging from 1 to 15 years in prison.

According to the prosecution, Mr. A was forcibly repatriated to South Korea after committing voice phishing crimes in China. There were 535 victims in this case, with total damages amounting to approximately 2.6 billion won. Among the victims, one person reportedly suffered damages of about 283.96 million won and took their own life.

This ruling is regarded as an unusually severe sentence. A prosecution official stated, "We consolidated cases scattered across the country involving the mastermind of voice phishing who was initially charged with simple fraud," adding, "We applied the comprehensive crime of habitual fraud and charged him under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes for fraud."

Furthermore, the official explained, "Considering these circumstances, we actively requested the court to impose a heavy sentence," and added, "We will continue to strictly respond to ensure that sentences commensurate with voice phishing crimes are imposed in the future."

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