Seventy-three South Korean suspects who defrauded 869 of our nationals of about 48.6 billion won in Cambodia will be forcibly repatriated to Korea on the 23rd. This is the largest ever in terms of the scale of extraditions, and includes the romance scam couple fraud ring that could not be returned to Korea in Oct. last year.
Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said at a briefing on the 22nd that "the special task force for transnational crime, formed on the order of President Lee Jae-myung, will forcibly repatriate 73 South Korean suspects who defrauded 869 of our nationals of about 48.6 billion won." The chartered plane carrying the suspects will depart Incheon Airport at 8:45 p.m. the same day and is scheduled to arrive at Incheon Airport at 9:10 a.m. on the 23rd.
Kang, the spokesperson, said, "This repatriation of criminal suspects to Korea is the largest ever, and it is the result of a long pursuit by the investigation team, including the Korea task force dispatched to Cambodia, the National Intelligence Service (NIS), and local police." She added that, in addition to suspects in scam crimes, those involved in "no-shows," romance scams, and investment signal chatroom-related crimes will also be forcibly repatriated.
The targets include those who committed sex crimes against minors and fled to Cambodia to take part in scams; the ringleader of a fraud ring who posed as an investment expert and stole 19.4 billion won from young workers; and members who took victims confined in scam compounds as hostages, threatened their families, and extorted money.
According to police, the investigation team identified seven scam compounds and in Dec. last year arrested 51 members of a Sihanoukville scam ring, 15 members of a Poipet scam ring, and 26 members of a Mondulkiri scam ring.