'Largest Ever' Voice Phishing Caller ID Spoofing Relay Operation Organization Exposed

21 Organization Members Arrested and Indicted
1,694 Modified Relay Devices Seized

The prosecution has uncovered the largest-ever voice phishing caller ID spoofing relay operation organization, composed of multinational foreigners from China, Thailand, South Africa, and other countries.

On-site photo of a voice phishing relay station. [Photo by Joint Government Investigation Team on Voice Phishing Crimes]

On the 20th, the Voice Phishing Crime Government Joint Investigation Team (led by Kim Soo-min) announced that they arrested and indicted a total of 21 people, including senior-level payment managers, parts storage managers, and currency exchangers. The caller ID spoofing relay device is a device equipped with multiple SIM cards that can manipulate the phone number displayed on a mobile phone. It is mainly used by voice phishing organizations to disguise calls from overseas as if they originated domestically.

Through tracking accounts used in the crime, forensic analysis of mobile phones, on-site investigations in one-room apartment areas, immigration data analysis, and cooperation with the National Intelligence Service, the Joint Investigation Team uncovered the relay operation organization that operated based in Yanji, China, defrauding approximately 5.4 billion KRW from 170 victims and a voice phishing call center organization. They also uncovered 11 relay stations disguised as ordinary one-room apartments, 4 parts storage locations, and seized 1,694 caller ID spoofing relay devices (784 lines), 8,083 mobile phone SIM cards, 443 mobile phones, 121 PCs, and 193 routers on-site. Furthermore, through analysis of testimonies from organization members and forensic analysis of the relay devices, they identified the identities of the China-based head and senior-level members of the organization, who were unknown even to the members themselves, and are currently tracking them through close international cooperation.

Voice Phishing Organization Structure. [Photo by Joint Government Investigation Team on Voice Phishing Crimes]

Since July 29, 2022, the Joint Investigation Team has booked a total of 433 people and detained 150. As a result, the amount of damage caused by voice phishing in 2022 was 543.8 billion KRW, a 30% decrease compared to the previous year. Last year’s damage amount was 447.2 billion KRW, an 18% decrease from the previous year.

The Joint Investigation Team stated, “We will continue to strictly punish voice phishing crimes and actively respond to new methods, while devising various prevention and publicity measures to do our best to protect the public from voice phishing crimes.”

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