Police Seize 23,000 '4 Major Crime Tools' Including Burner Phones Used in Phone Financial Scams

Fake Phones, Fake Bank Accounts, Phone Number Manipulators, Illegal Currency Exchange
Strong Crackdown Leads to 52% Decrease in Related Crimes

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] The National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters announced on the 24th that it arrested 3,022 people and detained 88 of them during a two-month special crackdown on the 'four major crime tools' used in telecommunication financial fraud. During this period, 23,839 crime tools such as fake bank accounts were seized, and the amount of illegal currency exchange reached 17.2 billion KRW.

Since August 18, the police have been cracking down on major crime tools used in voice phishing, including ▲fake bank accounts ▲fake phones ▲manipulated relay devices used for deception and fraud in telecommunications ▲illegal currency exchange. Among the crime tools seized this time, fake phones were the most numerous at 20,739 units, followed by 2,908 fake bank accounts and 192 illegal relay devices. Nine cases of illegal currency exchange amounting to 17.2 billion KRW were uncovered. Additionally, a text message sending company that opened 6,189 fake phones and sent 5,810 bait messages, as well as a developer who created malicious apps and widely distributed them to an unspecified number of people, were also arrested.

Looking at the detailed crackdown status, in the case of fake phones, budget carriers (70%) and KT (25%) accounted for the majority, and prepaid phone activation and SIM card purchases accounted for most cases (69%). In particular, fake phones registered under foreigners (36%) and corporations (19%) accounted for more than half, leading the police to judge that further institutional improvements are necessary.

Regarding fake bank accounts, many cases occurred at banks such as NongHyup Bank with 515 cases (18%), Kookmin Bank with 456 cases (16%), and Industrial Bank of Korea with 403 cases (14%). Account holders were 74% individuals and 25% corporations, with some corporations being ghost companies established to open fake bank accounts.

The type of illegal manipulated relay devices that change the caller ID of 070 internet phone calls from overseas to 010 mobile phone numbers is also showing changing patterns. Previously, these devices were often received by parcel and installed indoors, but as crackdowns have intensified recently, installations in vehicles (7%) or mobile installations in mountain paths and construction sites are increasing, according to the police. Illegal currency exchange involves sending crime proceeds from telephone financial fraud to overseas criminal organizations; nine cases involving 14 people were uncovered, with three detained.

The police's strong crackdown on major crime tools has led to a decrease in telephone financial fraud victims. The number of telephone financial fraud cases dropped by 52% in six months, from 4,017 cases in March this year to 1,812 cases in September.

The police plan to regularize crackdowns on major crime tools by analyzing changes in criminal methods and continue to promote institutional improvements to block the creation and distribution of crime tools in cooperation with related agencies. In particular, they warned to be cautious as cases are increasing where people are deceived into 'text message sending agency' or 'debt collection work' through job and part-time job sites but are actually involved in crimes.