A government joint investigation team sent to trial a Cambodia-based crime ring that committed crimes combining romance scams and investment fraud.
The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office voice phishing crime government joint investigation team (joint investigation team) said on the 30th that starting in April this year it had indicted in stages 13 members of a crime group led by a Chinese ringleader on charges of joining and participating in a criminal organization and violating the Act on the Refund of Money Stolen by Telecommunication Frauds.
Of them, 11 were detained and 2 were sent to trial without detention.
Centered in Poipet, Cambodia, the group is accused of swindling about 1.93 billion won from victims from December last year to October this year.
They posed as young women with wealth and was found to have deceived victims by saying they made big revenue through investments in SpaceX, the space company of Elon Musk, Tesla chief executive officer (CEO).
The joint investigation team said they built rapport with victims through messengers and the like, then prepared a script saying a relative "works with Musk" to induce bogus investments.
They also prepared a fake SpaceX application (app) as a channel to siphon investment funds and tricked victims into installing it, according to authorities.
After confirming that victims had "invested" through the app, they received the funds from the local crime group in dollars or cryptocurrency, exchanged them into won, and pocketed the criminal proceeds, authorities said.
They was found to have also prepared a false explanation for investigations, claiming, "We were lured to Cambodia by a job scam and, due to confinement and threats, had no choice but to take part in the crimes."
The prosecution, police, and the Korea Immigration Service launched a joint investigation in April, identified the damage and facts of the crimes, and after about eight months of investigation confirmed the identities of 20 Korean members. The joint investigation team first detained and indicted three call center agents and one manager from July to September. It then additionally arrested and indicted recruiters and interpreters. The joint investigation team is tracking seven members who have not been apprehended.
A joint investigation team official said, "For the members who have been apprehended, we will ensure punishments commensurate with their culpability and thoroughly recover the criminal revenue," adding, "We will continue to do our best to protect the public and the everyday economy from rapidly changing and evolving voice phishing crimes through one-team investigations enabled by swift sharing of crime data."