A ring that laundered a total of 1.5 trillion won, including money from voice phishing, at seven apartment complexes nationwide was caught.
The joint investigation unit on voice phishing crimes (JIU) said on the 21st it booked 13 members of the criminal organization and detained seven of them for trial. Six people, including the ringleader A, 40, have been issued arrest warrants and are being pursued.
They are accused of organizing a criminal group and laundering about 1.575 trillion won in crime proceeds, using more than 180 burner accounts from March 2022 to Nov. last year.
According to the JIU, the ring rented apartments and converted them into dedicated money-laundering offices and lodgings they called "centers." They ran the laundering operations 24 hours a day by splitting into day and night shifts.
To evade investigators, they rented apartments under lower-tier members' names and installed blackout curtains over entire windows. If a member defected or there was a chance the location might be exposed, they moved the center immediately. Over about 3 years and 6 months, they continued laundering by relocating the center across seven apartments, starting in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, then to Songdo, Incheon; Godeok, Seoul; and Yongin and Suwon in Gyeonggi Province.
The ring prepared systematically for investigations. When moving a center, they destroyed all related evidence, including external hard drives from work PCs and burner accounts. They also prepared a so-called "script" detailing how to respond if detected by investigators.
If a burner account holder was caught by investigators, they paid the fine on the person's behalf to block the probe from widening. When lower-tier members were detained, they hired lawyers on their behalf to keep them quiet. Top-tier members frequently swapped burner phones.
They enjoyed a lavish lifestyle by buying expensive imported cars and luxury goods with criminal proceeds. At ringleader A's residence, multiple luxury items from Hermès and Chanel, receipts showing luxury purchases made in cash, and department store VVIP cards were found. Through phone forensics and transaction history analysis, the JIU estimated A's net criminal proceeds at about 12.6 billion won.
Documents related to various businesses, including real estate, casinos, and solar power generation, were also found at A's residence. It appears A sought to reinvent as a legitimate entrepreneur based on criminal proceeds. The JIU said it identified the full scope of the crimes and prevented further money laundering.
To recover criminal proceeds, the JIU seized high-end luxury clothing and jewelry worth about 400 million won from A's residence, hideouts, and centers. It also sought pre-indictment preservation for forfeiture of all assets in the names of A, A's spouse, and minor children. The court granted all claims, totaling about 3 billion won.
The JIU continues to track not only A's whereabouts but also the hidden criminal proceeds. A JIU official said, "We will pursue and arrest to the end so that not even a single participant can slip through the investigative net, and we will ensure that those arrested receive punishment commensurate with their culpability," adding, "We will thoroughly recover criminal proceeds and work to return them to victims."