Overseas remittances to Cambodia through NongHyup Bank have surged over the past four years. Concerns are being raised that the channel could be exploited as an outlet for voice phishing and organized crime funds.
Rep. Eo Ki-gu of the Democratic Party of Korea, who chairs the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee, said on the 24th that an analysis of data submitted by NongHyup Bank showed that the annual amount remitted to Cambodia through NongHyup Bank roughly tripled from 2021, when Cambodian organized crime ramped up, through last year.
Annual remittances jumped from 36.8 billion won in 2021 to 45.9 billion won in 2022, 94.2 billion won in 2023, and 103.8 billion won in 2024. As of September this year, the remittance amount had already reached 79.8 billion won, continuing the upward trend. From 2021 through September this year, a total of 21,981 transactions amounting to 360.5 billion won ($251.72 million) were sent through NongHyup Bank.
Of that, remittances by Koreans totaled 316 billion won ($220.45 million), accounting for 88% of the total. In particular, from 2023 through September this year, there were 31 payment-suspended accounts among people who remitted money to Cambodia through NongHyup Bank.
This has prompted calls to check whether the transfers involve kidnapping- and intimidation-type voice phishing targeting Koreans. NongHyup Bank invested 5.4 billion won in building a financial fraud prevention system and operating a center from 2020 through August this year, but the effectiveness was limited. During this period, there were 8,807 voice phishing cases with losses of 136.6 billion won, while reimbursements amounted to only 21.7 billion won (a reimbursement rate of 15.9%).
Meanwhile, NongHyup Bank donated $37,000 (about 50 million won) to the local Cambodian group AFESIP (Acting for Women in Distressing Situations) from 2022 to 2024.
However, in 2014, it was revealed that the group's founder, "Somaly Mam," had coached a victim of sexual exploitation to give false testimony, leading to the closure of its U.S. nonprofit, and the U.S. Embassy noted problems with the group's fund management and services. Despite the controversy, Somaly Mam currently remains as head of the organization.
Rep. Eo said, "Kidnapping- and intimidation-type voice phishing is spreading with Cambodia at the center, but NongHyup Bank's financial fraud prevention system remains lax," adding, "Given the high risk that remittances to Cambodia could be exploited as a conduit for criminal funds, the bank should thoroughly reexamine real-name verification for overseas accounts and its suspicious transaction detection system, and transparently manage local operations and the use of donations."