A voice phishing ring that swindled 130 million won by deceiving victims with promises of cash for joining review events in the Philippines was arrested.
The Government Joint Investigation Division on Voice Phishing Crimes at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office (Director General Lee Tae-soon) said on the 30th that it arrested four voice phishing members, including A, 37, a call center manager, in the Philippines on charges including violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Refund of Telecommunication Fraud Damage and fraud, forcibly repatriated them, and indicted them in custody on the 28th.
According to the division, they are accused of setting up a voice phishing office in Clark, Philippines, in June–July last year and defrauding victims of a total of 130 million won.
A and others were found to have used a new tactic that lured victims with a bait mission called "posting reviews." They first approached victims as if running a review event and built trust by paying small amounts when victims wrote reviews. They then induced deposits by saying that if victims purchased passes for a specific site and wrote reviews, the pass purchase expense and manuscript fee would be refunded to their accounts.
They also deceived victims by saying, "If you complete the purchase verification team mission, you can get a bigger reward" and "If you quit halfway, other team members will be harmed, so you must participate even by taking out a loan," and stole large sums.
According to the division, the tip that sparked this investigation came from a local source in the Philippines in July last year. The source told a dispatched prosecution investigator that "Koreans are suspected of setting up an online fraud office and committing fraud crimes," and the division immediately began cooperation with the Philippines Bureau of Immigration.
Working with the Bureau of Immigration FSU (Fugitive Search Unit) in the Philippines, the division placed a bureau source as a housekeeper to obtain the members' personal details and then arrested four members on site.
However, because they were being held for violating Philippine immigration law, there was a possibility they could be released if measures such as an Interpol red notice were not carried out promptly. The division immediately issued an Interpol red notice and invalidated their passports to prevent their release and flight. At the same time, a dispatched prosecution investigator secured evidence such as computers and mobile phones found on site and transferred them to Korea.
A division official said, "We will continue to carry out real-time crackdowns and arrests of voice phishing crime rings based overseas through proactive international cooperation and a swift international cooperation system." Since its launch on July 29, 2022, the division has booked a total of 1,206 people and arrested 481 as of Mar. 31.