Fifty-four Koreans were arrested for carrying out an "investment scam" while impersonating well-known overseas financial companies in a crime ring led by a Chinese ringleader in Cambodia. There were 229 victims, with losses totaling 19.4 billion won. The average loss per person was 84 million won.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the Financial Supervisory Service said on the 6th that they arrested 18 people, including an organization member who used the stage name "Seungri," on charges of fraud, violating the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, and joining and participating in a criminal organization, and sent 54 people, including those 18, to prosecutors. The total number of Korean suspects belonging to this organization is 77. Police invalidated the passports of 17 people staying overseas and requested an Interpol red notice.
The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) received a tip in May last year that about 500 members, including Chinese and Koreans, in Cambodia were preparing an "online leading room" scam by impersonating well-known overseas financial companies, and asked police to investigate.
According to the police investigation, they rented an entire resort in Cambodia and used it as a call center, offices, and accommodations for the scam organization. From February to July last year, members posted advertisements for "high-return investments" on social media (SNS) such as Instagram. They also sent stock investment text messages to anyone and invited them to Telegram chat rooms.
The ringleader of the scam organization was Chinese, and Chinese, Thai, and Korean members each formed teams. When the ringleader drafted the investment scam scenario in Chinese, there was a "translation team" that translated it into natural Korean, and roles were subdivided into counseling teams (call centers) that lured victims, mule accounts and member recruiters, and more. To avoid tracking, members all used aliases and burner phones registered to foreigners.
They promised victims high returns through initial public offerings and the like and induced them to install a fake stock trading app (HTS). When victims deposited investment funds, the app displayed manipulated results as if actual revenue had been generated. In group chat rooms, a member impersonating an investment expert offered stock analysis consultations and built trust with victims.
They made it appear as though some revenue had been generated to induce reinvestment, then shut down the app and cut off contact. Police described it as "the 'pig butchering' method (Pig Butchering Scam), which takes advantage of trust to coax victims into investing more and then steals the money all at once, like slowly fattening a pig before slaughter."
Among the 229 victims, those in their 40s were the most at 111 (48.5%), followed by 51 people aged 50 and older (22.3%), 45 in their 30s (19.7%), and 22 in their 20s (9.6%). By occupation, other (including homemakers) accounted for 134 (58.5%), office workers 65 (28.4%), and self-employed 30 (13.1%).
Korean call center members were lured to Cambodia and joined the crimes after being tempted by claims that they could "work comfortably overseas and earn a high income through part-time work." Police said they recognized from the start, or right before taking jobs overseas, that what they were doing was illegal, but thought they could evade investigators because they were far from Korea and operating anonymously, so they took part in the crimes.
The crime ring also gave incentives based on scam performance. However, police said, "In reality, they could not take the money for various reasons such as room and board."
The crimes of this organization were reported by an insider. The tipster also provided the Telegram account used by the organization to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS). The FSS paid the tipster a reward of 10 million won.