Gang Arrested for Running Illegal Investment Advisory Room and Embezzling 13.5 Billion Won in Investment Funds

A group operating an illegal stock trading program, impersonating experts to induce investments and then embezzling money, was caught and arrested by the police.

On the 31st, Gwangju Western Police announced that they arrested 15 members of a criminal organization, including the ringleader A (37), on charges of fraud, organizing a criminal group, and violating the Capital Markets and Financial Investment Services Act by embezzling money using a fake HTS program, and that 10 of them were detained.

They are accused of operating investment advisory rooms using SNS from January to August and collecting 13.5 billion KRW in investment funds from investors.

According to the police investigation, they deceived victims into believing they made large profits through overseas futures and then recommended investing in overseas futures.

It was also found that they induced investors to invest in overseas futures using an illegal stock trading program where no actual transactions took place, and then embezzled the investment funds.

In this process, although no actual transactions occurred, if the amount appeared small when profits were shown in the stock market, they returned the principal. However, if the amount was large, they used excuses such as "violation of trading laws" to withhold the money. If the stock price dropped below the investment point, making it appear as a loss, the suspects kept the money.

In particular, the suspects pretended to be experts in overseas futures and stocks, providing investment guidance by arbitrarily telling investors when to buy and sell without any knowledge of investment or stocks, but it was revealed that they actually had no related knowledge.

The police eradicated the criminal organization, which operated in a cell-like structure, after months of surveillance and seized 1 billion KRW in cash, mobile phones, and other evidence from the crime office.

A police official urged, "Unauthorized stock programs do not conduct actual stock or overseas futures trading, and even if profits appear, they may not be paid, so special caution is required."

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