Police Arrest 1,884 Suspects in Five Months... Phishing Crackdown Extended Indefinitely

Special Crackdown Uncovers 149.8 Billion Won in Money Laundering
Comprehensive Investigation Response to Sophisticated, Organized Crimes
Police: "Special Crackdown Extended Indefinitely, Pursuit to the End"

The police conducted an intensive crackdown on various phishing crimes over a five-month period and arrested 1,884 suspects. Although criminal techniques have become highly sophisticated and more organizations are basing their operations overseas, beyond the investigative reach of the police, the investigative authorities plan to continue a comprehensive response through measures against "transnational crime" and strengthened international cooperation.

The National Office of Investigation of the Korean National Police Agency announced on the 5th that, as a result of a special crackdown on phishing crimes carried out over five months from September last year to January this year, they apprehended 26,130 suspects and arrested 1,884 of them. Among these, 127 suspects were forcibly repatriated from overseas in two separate operations. In addition, by cracking down on the creation and distribution of various criminal tools, the police detected a total of 7,359 criminal tools and 149.8 billion won in money laundering. At the same time, to prevent further crimes, they blocked a total of 185,134 criminal tools used in the offenses, including phone numbers and messenger accounts.

Korean suspects who had taken part in crimes of a Cambodian crime syndicate were forcibly repatriated to South Korea and, upon arriving at Busan Dongnae Police Station on the afternoon of the 23rd of last month, were getting out of the escort vehicle. Yonhap News

There were also multiple achievements in apprehending phishing organizations based overseas. The Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Investigation Unit of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency arrested 52 members of a criminal organization that was based in Cambodia and impersonated state institutions and public officials to defraud 210 victims of 7.1 billion won, and all 52 were taken into custody. The Mobile Investigation Unit of the South Chungcheong Provincial Police Agency likewise arrested 57 members of a criminal organization that, while based in Cambodia, simultaneously carried out romance scams, investment recommendation chatroom scams, voice phishing by impersonating prosecutors, and no-show reservation scams, defrauding a total of 110 victims of 9.3 billion won; 55 of these suspects were arrested.

Although the specific methods differed by organization, investigators identified several common features: (1) they established bases overseas where the investigative authority of the South Korean police does not reach; (2) they operated the organizations under strict internal rules; and (3) they carried out crimes in a compartmentalized and specialized structure in which even among members only aliases were thoroughly used. If members violated the organization’s manual, they were fined or subjected to physical assault, and the ringleader confiscated their passports under the pretext of managing them, thereby forcing the use of aliases.

On top of the growing organization and anonymization of these criminal groups, it became harder to apprehend them once they began basing their operations overseas, beyond the reach of Korean investigative powers. In response, however, the investigative authorities launched an all-out counteroffensive through international cooperation, including a special transnational crime response task force (TF), and through organic collaboration among provincial and metropolitan police agencies. During the special crackdown period, the number of voice phishing victimization cases decreased by 20% compared with the same period a year earlier, while the number of suspects apprehended increased by 46%, from 17,885 to 26,130.

In particular, the launch in October last year of the pan-government "Integrated Response Team for Telecommunication and Financial Fraud" played a major role in reducing voice phishing damage. By conducting a full-scale analysis of all reports of damage during the special crackdown period, the authorities blocked a total of 185,134 criminal tools, including burner phones, thereby preventing the spread of further damage. In addition, in cooperation with the telecommunications industry, they introduced an "emergency blocking system" that cuts off phone numbers suspected of being used for crime within 10 minutes, and during the crackdown period they urgently blocked as many as 117,751 such numbers.

Park Sungjoo, Commissioner General of the National Office of Investigation, stated, "We will indefinitely extend the special crackdown, which was originally scheduled to run only until January this year, and will continue strong enforcement throughout this year," adding, "We will not only arrest criminals, but also ensure that no one can ever profit from phishing crimes by mobilizing every possible means to trace and confiscate criminal proceeds and return them to the victims."

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