An investment-leading scam ring that posed as stock experts and stole about 1.5 billion won in cash and gold bars from five victims has been uncovered by police. Police used images of fake gold bars and equity contribution certificates made with artificial intelligence (AI) to arrest the group's domestic funds manager at the scene.
The Daejeon Yuseong Police Station said on the 12th it apprehended eight members of the investment-leading scam ring on suspicion of fraud and other charges, and detained six of them, including a person surnamed A who served as the domestic chief funds manager.
A and others are accused of recruiting stock investors in June through social networking services (SNS) and YouTube ads, then taking cash and gold bars worth about 1.541 billion won from five victims. They deceived victims by saying, "If you join the investment project, you can make up to 100% revenue."
A fake investment app was used in the crime. The group sent a specific L.I.N.C to have victims install a counterfeit stock-trading application, then lured them into a group chat room. They then posted fake revenue verification messages and manipulated the deposit amounts and rates of return in the app to make it look like real investing was taking place.
A notable feature was that victims were told to prepare cash and gold bars themselves. The group deceived them by saying that to avoid oversight by financial authorities or bank account tracing, they had to contribute with physical assets. The collectors forged and wore employee IDs of famous overseas financial firms and met victims in person to receive the cash and gold bars.
The five victims included a homemaker and office workers, and the loss per person ranged from at least 11 million won to as much as 1.3 billion won.
Police believe the group operated with roles divided among a ringleader overseas, a domestic chief funds manager, money launderers, couriers, collectors, and couriers for delivery. It was found that members committed the crime in a cell structure so they would not know each other's identities, exchanging only appearance descriptions and photos on Telegram. Among the collectors, there was a person who quit a job to participate in the crime to earn a fee of 500,000 to 800,000 won per job.
While questioning a collector first arrested, police confirmed that a superior had ordered the person to obtain additional gold bars from another victim. They backtracked from this to mount an operation to catch the domestic chief funds manager.
Police used AI to create photos of fake gold bars that looked real and images of equity contribution certificates, then sent them to the group's superior. After making the group believe they were real, they arrested A, who came out to receive the actual gold bars, at the scene.
In the process, they also recovered victim funds worth about 258 million won, including cash and gold bars.
A police official said, "If someone sends a L.I.N.C under the pretext of a stock investment project to induce app installation or recommends investing by verifying revenue in a group chat room, it is highly likely to be a scam," and noted, "Extra caution is necessary."