A man in his 20s accused of handing an acquaintance over to a Cambodian voice phishing crime ring was sentenced to 10 years in prison in the first trial.
The Criminal Agreement Division 29 of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Eom Gi-pyo, Director General judge) sentenced a person surnamed Shin (26), who was indicted on charges including luring for the purpose of overseas transfer and transferring the lured person overseas, to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had earlier sought a nine-year sentence for Shin, but the court imposed a higher term. A person surnamed Park (26) and a person surnamed Kim (27), who were accomplices, were sentenced to five years and three years and six months, respectively.
The three prepared a scam using vehicle identification numbers of imported cars around November last year and proposed that their acquaintance, identified as A, join them. But A refused, and the crime fell through.
Shin, the ringleader, said the crime failed because of A, causing losses of about 65 million won in preparation expense and other costs, and proposed to accomplices Park and Kim that they send A to Cambodia, which the two accepted. At the time, Shin was said to have been recruiting bank accounts under borrowed names in Korea and passing them to members of a Cambodian voice phishing crime organization.
Around mid-January this year, they demanded that A repay 30 million won, saying, "Because you did not join the crime, losses occurred, so pay half, 30 million won." They also deceived A by saying, "We are promoting a tourism business in Cambodia, and if you go to Cambodia and just pick up the contract, we will clear the debt."
Believing this, A left for Cambodia with Kim. Immediately upon arrival in Cambodia, A was handed over to members of the crime ring. The members confined A in a crime compound near the Cambodia–Vietnam border that had walls and barbed wire. They also took A's mobile phone, ID, and passport, and used the smart banking function to use A's account for voice phishing crimes.
When A's account was suspended by the bank's measures, the members also reportedly coerced A to demand money from family by showing videos and photos of other borrowed-name account holders being tortured or dead, and threatened A to prevent escape.
A was confined for about 20 days in the Cambodian crime compound and at lodging facilities, and was rescued in early Feb. with help from the Embassy of Korea in Cambodia.
The court found all three guilty on the charges. The court said, "The defendants conspired to lure the victim for the purpose of overseas transfer and had the victim depart for Cambodia, thereby transferring the victim overseas," and added, "The purpose and circumstances of the crime and the organized division of roles in carrying it out make the crime quality very bad."
Regarding Shin, the ringleader, the court said, "Shin induced the accomplices to participate in the crime, gave specific instructions on the execution acts to be divided, and, from the outset, transferred the victim overseas knowing that the victim would be confined for a considerable period by a local crime ring in Cambodia," adding, "The degree of participation in this crime is very grave."
The court continued, "The victim appears to have felt considerable fear and anxiety, and had the victim not been rescued in time, it is hard to gauge how long the confinement would have lasted and the extent of additional mental and physical pain the victim would have suffered," adding, "The defendants made no significant efforts to restore the victim's losses and did not receive forgiveness from the victim."