Chungnam Police Arrest Chinese-Based Telephone Financial Fraud Crime Organization

Members of a telephone financial fraud criminal organization operating based in China were arrested in large numbers.

The Chungnam Provincial Police Agency announced on the 23rd that they arrested 39 members of the criminal organization who impersonated investigative agencies such as the prosecution office to extort money from victims, and detained 36 of them, including 2 leaders and managers.

According to the police, the group is suspected of organizing a team in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China, around October 2016, and embezzling a total of 4.73 billion KRW from 100 domestic victims until July 2018.

The police have been tracking and arresting members sequentially over several years. They obtained arrest warrants for members residing in China, requested Interpol red notices from the National Police Agency, and cooperated with the Chinese Ministry of Public Security to arrest the members and forcibly repatriate them to Korea one by one.

The organization's leader was also arrested in China on the 11th of last month and repatriated to Korea on the 12th.

The arrested members had divided roles such as leader, manager, phishing operator, and collector, showing meticulousness in their crimes by using overseas-based messengers and aliases that are difficult to trace.

They also frequently changed their bases to evade investigation agencies’ tracking, continuing their crimes in an organized and planned manner.

A police official stated, “Neither investigative agencies nor financial institutions ever request cash or account transfers for any reason,” and added, “Watching the telephone financial fraud prevention promotional video produced by the National Police Agency can help prevent victimization, so we urge people to watch it.”

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