Court Sentences Woman in Her 40s to Prison for Acting as Cash Collector After Being Approached by Voice Phishing Organization

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A woman in her 40s who participated in a crime involving a total damage amount of over 100 million won by accepting a voice phishing organization's proposal on social networking services (SNS) to "collect and deliver cash according to instructions in exchange for a commission" was sentenced to prison in the first trial.

According to the legal community on the 27th, Judge Kim Yongchan of the Criminal Division 6 at the Seoul Central District Court sentenced No Mo (40), who was indicted on fraud charges, to two years in prison on the 15th.

No was prosecuted for receiving cash from victims after meeting them, following a proposal from a voice phishing organization on the KakaoTalk messenger last year, and delivering the money to the organization.

The organization impersonated major financial companies and extorted money from victims using the bait of "low-interest loans." After receiving loan applications and personal information through a fake app, they contacted victims again pretending to be another financial company, deceiving them by saying, "It is illegal to repay existing loans by taking out new loans. If you do not repay immediately, you will be punished."

Here, No met victims impersonating bank employees according to the organization's proposal, which stated, "If you receive cash from victims at the specified time and place and transfer it via bank transfer, you will be given a 3% commission."

She played the role of cash collector for the organization, collecting a total of 98.37 million won from six fraud victims and delivering it to the organization.

The court stated, "No is a first-time offender who implicitly recognized rather than clearly knowing from the beginning that it was voice phishing, and the economic gain she directly obtained was about 2.6 million won, which is only 4.7% of the total damage amount," but added, "Considering the social harm of voice phishing and the total damage amount, a prison sentence is inevitable."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.