The Real Hero of the Movie 'Citizen Deokhui' to Receive a 50 Million Won Reward

Gathered and Reported Information on 2016 Voice Phishing Scammers
Contributed to Arrests but Did Not Receive Reward at the Time

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission has decided to award a prize of 50 million KRW to the voice phishing whistleblower who inspired the movie Citizen Deokhee. On the 27th, the Commission announced that it would pay a total of 81 million KRW in rewards to five individuals, including whistleblower Kim Seong-ja, for providing significant financial benefits to public institutions or contributing to the public interest. The prize money is scheduled to be delivered on the 30th.

Ms. Kim is the real-life protagonist of Deokhee (played by Ra Mi-ran), the main character in the movie Citizen Deokhee, which was released earlier this year. The film depicts the story of Deokhee, an ordinary laundry shop owner who falls victim to voice phishing, and her friends as they set out to capture the mastermind of a voice phishing criminal organization based in China.

A still from the movie "Citizen Deokhee," which is based on the true story of a voice phishing whistleblower.
[Image source=Showbox]

As in the movie, Ms. Kim was deceived by a voice phishing gang member impersonating a bank employee in January 2016 and transferred a total of 27.3 million KRW over 11 transactions. Afterwards, she personally gathered evidence and information about the gang members and reported them to the police. Thanks to her efforts, the police arrested six members of the gang, including the ringleader.

The Commission emphasized that thanks to Ms. Kim’s report, they were able to confirm the losses of dozens of victims and prevent additional harm to hundreds more. Investigations revealed that the voice phishing organization had swindled 135 million KRW from 72 victims and was planning crimes targeting an additional 234 victims. However, the police did not inform Ms. Kim of the arrests despite her significant contribution, and the official announcement of the case omitted the fact that the arrests were made possible by a citizen’s tip.

Moreover, contrary to the usual promotion of a "100 million KRW reward for voice phishing reports," the police proposed to pay Ms. Kim only 1 million KRW due to budget constraints. Ms. Kim rejected this offer, and after the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office became aware of the situation, it recommended that the Commission award Ms. Kim the prize money. The Commission highly evaluated Ms. Kim’s efforts to resolve the case and her contribution to the public interest, deciding to grant her a reward of 50 million KRW, approximately twice the amount of the fraud loss. Additionally, the Commission decided to award 10 million KRW and 9.5 million KRW to citizens who reported college entrance exam fraud and drug dealers, respectively.

Regarding the Commission’s decision, Ms. Kim expressed, "I went through a difficult time without receiving any compensation for the voice phishing fraud loss or any other form of restitution. I am deeply grateful to the Commission for restoring my honor and compensating me for the hardships I endured through this reward."

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