[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A bizarre(?) incident occurred where a teenage woman who succeeded in getting a job was caught by the police while performing the company's ‘work’.
A, who was hired through an online job search site, did not realize until she was caught by the police that the place she was employed at was a criminal organization.
Unknowingly, A ended up working calmly for a criminal organization and became involved in telephone financial fraud (voice phishing).
According to the Busan Saha Police Station on the 3rd, on October 14th at noon, A was caught by undercover police while approaching a man in front of a sauna in Dadae-dong, Saha-gu, Busan.
When the police said, “You are under arrest on suspicion of involvement in voice phishing crimes,” A looked bewildered and glanced around, thinking, ‘Are you talking to me?’
At the time, detectives from the Saha Police Station were on alert, having received a report that “It seems a smartphone was hacked and they are asking to deliver money,” suspecting voice phishing.
The person who came to the meeting place to receive cash from the informant was A. The police immediately arrested her.
A’s eyes widened. She claimed she had no idea about the situation and said she was just doing the work assigned by the company.
The police booked A on charges of aiding fraud. Falling from a job seeker to a suspect, A continuously insisted on her innocence during the police investigation.
According to the police investigation, A applied and was hired last month at a manufacturing company in Changwon, Gyeongnam, through an online job search app.
All hiring notifications and work instructions were given via Telegram messages.
A person claiming to be a company official explained, “Due to COVID-19, employees are working remotely, and if there is a work order, you can go directly to the site to perform the task,” and A reportedly did not suspect anything unusual.
Later, the company instructed her to “go to a sauna in Saha-gu, Busan, and collect the transaction money.” A became a ‘collector’ and was caught.
After A was arrested, the suspicious Telegram account immediately disappeared. The manufacturing company A applied to did not actually exist.
Cases of collectors who were unknowingly running errands to collect money being sentenced to prison are increasing in court. As it has become difficult to recruit collectors by traditional methods, criminal organizations are ‘evolving’ their crimes by deceiving job seekers into participating in crimes by pretending to be legitimate companies, according to the police.
A police official said, “No matter how much it is a non-face-to-face era, job seekers should carefully verify the company address and existence before applying to ensure safety.”
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