A group that created a fictional character using deepfake technology, then approached individuals through a chat application, built trust as if they were in a romantic relationship, and committed investment fraud, swindling 12 billion won, was caught by the police.
According to Yonhap News on the 30th, the Ulsan Police Agency's Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Team apprehended 45 individuals involved in a romance scam and arrested 10 of them, including the main suspect A, on charges of organizing, joining, and participating in a criminal organization and violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, while booking the remaining 35, including chat operators.
They first collected photos of ordinary people from various social networking services (SNS) and then created a virtual character, a 34-year-old woman identified as B, using deepfake technology. To make B appear as a real person, they specifically set details such as blood type, parents' occupations, home environment, education, and asset before randomly initiating conversations with men on the chat app.
Once they started contacting the victim, the chat operators taking on the role of B built trust as if they were in a romantic relationship by chatting daily according to a pre-prepared scenario lasting 10 to 15 days. Particularly, they avoided suspicion by even conducting video calls using deepfake technology.
The fictional character B claimed to own an apartment worth about 4 billion won in Gangnam, Seoul, and to be running a café, suggesting to the other party, 'Let's study investing together.' Victims who fell for this were directed to a YouTube channel promoted by B, where other accomplices posed as 'economic experts,' contacted the male victims personally, and guided them to fake investment sites of real companies and dummy bank accounts, urging them to send funds for cryptocurrency and stock investments.
The male victims were reassured when they saw profits on the fake sites, but when they tried to withdraw their earnings, B made excuses such as being hospitalized and cut off contact.
The group led by A swindled about 12 billion won from more than 100 individuals from March last year to February this year. They laundered their criminal proceeds through cryptocurrency or gift card exchanges. Among the victims were people with disabilities, small business owners, and the elderly. Some were deceived into parting with amounts ranging from 2 million won to as much as 880 million won. It appeared that some even took out loans to invest.
The police, after receiving reports from victims, conducted an investigation and confirmed the use of dummy bank accounts and phones, and issued an Interpol alert for the suspects currently in Cambodia. Two main suspects are now in custody by Cambodian authorities, and the police are in the process of extradition.
A police official said, 'We are continuing the investigation into the romance scam crime organization,' and 'We will pursue and apprehend suspects who are on the run abroad to the end.'