Commissioner Park Jeongbo of Seoul Police: "Dedicated Task Force Launched to Investigate Overseas Kidnappings and Detentions"

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has formed a dedicated task force to respond to cases of South Korean nationals being kidnapped or detained in connection with fraud crimes occurring mainly in Southeast Asia, including Cambodia.

Yonhap News Agency

At a regular press briefing on the 20th, Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner Park Jeongbo announced that, following a series of incidents in which South Korean nationals were detained and tortured by criminal organizations in Cambodia, a dedicated task force has been established within the Metropolitan Investigation Unit to comprehensively investigate related cases. The task force is led by the head of the Criminal Investigation Unit and consists of one team from each investigation squad, along with two cyber investigation teams, totaling 44 members. Commissioner Park explained, "If crimes such as kidnapping, detention, or disappearance of overseas nationals are found to be related to criminal activity, this task force will be solely responsible for the investigation."

In addition, the police plan to track bank accounts and IP addresses of those who post luring advertisements for high-paying overseas part-time jobs. They are also considering applying charges of aiding and abetting to website operators who facilitate or maintain such overseas recruitment advertisements.

There have been numerous cases in which people have become involved in crimes such as voice phishing and romance scams through various posts on social networking services that guarantee "high returns" and entice individuals to travel to Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries. Regarding this, Commissioner Park stated, "Until now, the cyber investigation team has mainly focused on deleting and blocking (overseas) luring advertisements, but from now on, we plan to actively investigate the posters by tracking their bank accounts and IP addresses."

Furthermore, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has so far received 36 reports related to Cambodia-based fraud crimes, of which 22 are currently under investigation. The remaining 14 cases have been closed as no criminal suspicion was found.

Meanwhile, the police have also launched a preliminary investigation into the Prince Group, which is considered one of the organizations behind the Cambodian fraud crimes. The Prince Group has reportedly engaged in fraud and human trafficking in Cambodia and elsewhere and has been sanctioned by the United States and the United Kingdom, with suspicions that it also operated an office in South Korea. Regarding this, Commissioner Park said, "We are analyzing relevant intelligence, and if any criminal activity is detected, we will launch a formal investigation."

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