Gang members covered in tattoos unmasked as 41.5 billion won money-laundering ring

By Kim Do-yoon, The Herald Business

Police have arrested a group of men and women in their 20s and 30s who allegedly laundered hundreds of billions of won in criminal proceeds in collusion with voice phishing organizations. Investigators found that the group recruited suppliers of burner bank accounts by promising easy money — telling recruits they could profit simply by lending their accounts — and drew acquaintances into the scheme.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Cyber Investigation Division announced Tuesday it had arrested 22 members of the organization, including the ringleader — a man in his 30s identified only as A — on charges of violating the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment and the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Prevention of Loss Caused by Telecommunications-Based Financial Fraud. Three of the 22 have been detained.

According to police, the group conspired with voice phishing organizations and operators of fraudulent investment websites between January and June last year to launder approximately 41.5 billion won ($26.9 million) in criminal proceeds.

Investigators found that ringleader A had a background in organized crime and operated out of Yeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. All 22 members were unemployed people in their 20s and 30s from the Eumseong-gun and Jincheon areas of North Chungcheong Province, and they joined the organization primarily through hometown connections — senior and junior acquaintances from the same region.

The group designed its operation around the fact that collecting multiple burner accounts and repeatedly dispersing transfers across them makes financial tracking significantly harder for police. They were in the process of expanding by recruiting additional burner-account suppliers and money launderers through job advertisements on Telegram.

Police first became aware of the money-laundering organization last May while investigating a fraudulent investment scam, when they arrested a suspect who had transferred a burner bank account and traced the lead back to the group behind it.

Officers then identified the organization's offices and residences one by one through financial tracking, closed-circuit television analysis, and stakeout operations.

The organization operated with clearly divided roles: a ringleader, managers, money launderers, and burner-account suppliers. The ringleader took roughly 2 percent of the laundered proceeds as a commission and paid members monthly salaries of 2.5 million to 10 million won depending on their role.

Police arrested the manager-level member in Eumseong-gun, North Chungcheong Province, last month, then apprehended the ringleader on June 22, completing the arrest of all 22 members. Investigators said they plan to continue tracing the group's criminal proceeds for confiscation.

Members communicated exclusively through overseas encrypted messaging apps and relocated their office every one to two months to evade detection.

The group also prepared a statement guidebook to prevent other members from being exposed if one was caught, and established an internal rule to fully cover any fines imposed on arrested members, investigators found.

"Even if the request comes from a hometown acquaintance or friend, transferring or lending a bank account registered in your own name is itself a punishable offense," a police official said. "You must never lend out your account under any circumstances."