The Head of Team of a voice phishing ring that ran phishing scams based in Cambodia was sentenced to prison in the first trial.
The Criminal Agreement Division 11 of the Seoul Eastern District Court (Presiding Judge Kang Min-ho) on the 14th sentenced a person surnamed Kang (28), who was indicted on charges including membership in a criminal organization, to four years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of criminal revenue of 14,198,000 won.
Kang departed for Cambodia in May last year and, until September of the same year, operated at the "Hanya Call Center" run by a foreign ringleader using the alias "Ma Dong-seok." He served as Head of Team of the "spycam phishing team," which recorded obscene video calls and extorted victims by threatening to distribute the videos. Within the team, Kang is accused of managing the women who recorded the video calls and working as a broker for obtaining bank accounts under borrowed names.
The ring was found to have taken a total of 527 million won from 11 victims from October last year to April this year.
The court said, "The defendant performed a role in maintaining and sustaining this organization and actively participated as a member even after returning to Korea from Cambodia," and noted, "Despite recognizing it was illegal, the defendant left for Cambodia and took part in voice phishing crimes."
The court explained the sentencing reasons, saying, "Electronic communications financial fraud crimes produce unspecified victims and cause serious harm to society," and, "Criminal organizations operating abroad are specialized by function, and their crimes are highly sophisticated, making detection difficult."
Other members who operated in the same organization as Kang have also been sentenced to prison one after another. On the 31st of last month, an organization member surnamed Jeong (26) and another surnamed Choi (31), who were indicted on charges including membership in a criminal organization, were each sentenced to three years and six months in prison, and a member surnamed Kim (30) was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.