Voice phishing ring that defrauded overseas Koreans of W12.3b arrested

Police have arrested a voice phishing ring that defrauded overseas Koreans of more than 10 billion won ($7.02 million).

The North Chungcheong Province Police Agency said Thursday it had apprehended 14 members of a voice phishing criminal organization — including a suspect identified only as A — on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes and membership in a criminal organization. Ten of the 14 have been indicted and detained. The group operated out of Cambodia and targeted overseas Koreans.

A and the others are accused of setting up an office in Cambodia from March last year and running the scheme for about a year, defrauding 15 overseas Koreans of 12.3 billion won in total. The victims are believed to be Korean nationals living in the United States or Canada.

The suspects told victims they were implicated in drug crimes and needed to transfer money so that illegal funds could be audited, then collected the payments in virtual assets, according to investigators.

Police confirmed in February that A and others, who had been arrested by Cambodian authorities on separate charges, were members of the voice phishing organization. They were subsequently extradited to South Korea and detained.