From Reading Rooms to Bodycam Phishing... 'Online Thieves' Over 27,000 Cases This Year Alone

Over 27,000 Cyber Fraud and Financial Crime Suspects Arrested... 1,239 Detained

The National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 22nd that, as a result of conducting an "Intensive Crackdown on Cyber Fraud and Financial Crimes" for eight months from March to October this year, a total of 27,264 suspects were apprehended, of whom 1,239 were arrested.

In addition, the police stated that they seized or took pre-indictment confiscation and seizure preservation measures on criminal proceeds amounting to 78.21828 billion KRW (74.57743 billion KRW from cyber fraud and 3.64085 billion KRW from cyber financial crimes) at the scene.

First, the number of suspects in cyber fraud crimes was 23,682, among whom 1,019 were arrested. By crime type, direct transaction fraud accounted for the largest share at 40.22%, followed by investment-related scams involving virtual assets at 38.35%, game fraud at 6.71%, and fake shopping mall and email fraud at 1.58%.

For example, the Seocho Police Station in Seoul arrested three suspects who posted messages about "selling tickets for a famous singer's concert" from April last year to August this year, cheating 745 people out of a total of 270 million KRW, with one of them arrested. The police analyzed that cyber fraud crimes are being committed through mass postings of advertisements such as "low-price purchases," "high-income part-time jobs," and "principal-guaranteed investments" on SNS or messengers amid ongoing difficult economic conditions.

The number of suspects in cyber financial crimes was 3,582, with 220 arrested. By crime type, messenger phishing accounted for the largest share at 54.83%, followed by illegal distribution of social networking service (SNS) and messenger accounts at 21.89%, smishing and other text message phishing crimes at 17.14%, and body-cam phishing at 6.14%.

The police explained that cyber financial crimes mainly use methods of sending messages via email, text messages, SNS, and messengers to unspecified multiple people to collect personal and financial information, and various mutated methods that exploit the potential fear or social and economic perceptions of victims receiving these messages continue to emerge. In fact, a suspect was arrested in Incheon for inducing the installation of malicious programs through a chat application and threatening to distribute videos of obscene acts, cheating 32 people out of 200 million KRW.

Regarding the age distribution of suspects in both crimes, those in their 20s accounted for the largest share at 48.49%, followed by those in their 30s (22.95%), under 19 years old (14.14%), 40s (9%), 50s (3.82%), and 60s and older (1.6%). By occupation, "unemployed or without a specific occupation" accounted for the majority at 71.75%, followed by service workers (12.29%), students (9.17%), office workers (3.6%), professionals (2.66%), and public officials/military personnel (0.53%).

Accordingly, the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency is also strengthening international cooperative investigations with Interpol, Europol, overseas investigative agencies, and information technology (IT) companies.

The National Police Agency emphasized, "Fraud and financial crimes occurring in cyberspace are becoming more diverse and sophisticated," adding, "If people pay attention to crime prevention information and exercise caution when using computers and smartphones, they can prevent damage in advance."

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