Members of the Thailand-based crime ring Longge Company, which stole about 15.1 billion won from roughly 700 people through voice phishing schemes including romance scams, have been additionally indicted and detained.
On the 10th, the Criminal Division 3 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Chang-hee) said it had indicted and detained six Longge Company members who were arrested in Thailand and extradited to Korea on charges including joining and operating a criminal organization and violating the Act on the Return of Damage from Telecommunication-based Financial Fraud.
Earlier, 21 members of the same ring were arrested between September and October last year, and from October through the 6th of this month, a total of 27 members have either been sentenced or are now on trial.
Prosecutors say they joined Longge Company, organized by Chinese nationals, between January and July 2025 and took part in crimes including romance scams, impersonating investigators, a lottery compensation coin scam, and a no-show scam.
Four Longge Company leaders, including the overall boss, are all Chinese nationals. They allegedly lured Koreans to Thailand by saying, "If you work at a voice phishing call center in Thailand, you can live in a luxury villa and make big money." Investigators believe the Korean members had their passports confiscated as soon as they arrived in Thailand and were forced to commit crimes.
The members posed as women who did not actually exist, enticing victims by saying, "We'll give you coins, so watch my live broadcast," then extorted money under the pretexts of coin top-ups and fee exchanges. They also impersonated investigators or claimed they were selling coins cheaply as compensation for failed lottery number predictions.
They are believed to have taken 15,093,000,000 won from 705 victims in Korea through these scams.
On June 21 last year, Thai police raided a pool villa office in Pattaya and arrested 21 people, including 20 Koreans. However, Chinese managers who fled at the time recruited new Korean members in just 10 days and opened a new office disguised as a rental car company.
Thai police then arrested nine members, including eight Koreans, on Aug. 6 last year, along with four who had fled. So far, a total of 32 Korean members have been caught.
The 21 members indicted last year received heavy sentences ranging from five years and six months to 13 years in prison. Of them, 15 have finalized sentences. The six defendants indicted this year are on their first trial.
The Chinese boss and one Deputy Minister are currently serving prison terms in Thailand. Given the large number of victims in Korea, the prosecutors office plans to seek their extradition. Two other Chinese Deputy Ministers are still at large.
