146 Caught, 11 Detained, 135 Released Without Detention
[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] More than 140 members of a gang, including a man in his 30s who opened and distributed forged bank accounts, were arrested by the police for obtaining illegal profits.
According to the Gyeongnam Police Agency on the 24th, A (31) and his gang opened forged bank accounts used for cyber gambling and stock investment scams, distributed them, and obtained illegal profits through their use.
The police announced that they arrested 146 people on charges of organizing a criminal group and violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, with 11 detained and 135 booked without detention.
The Gyeongnam Police Agency's Metropolitan Investigation Unit tracked and investigated the accounts of scattered individuals nationwide, including Seoul, for 12 months starting from March last year.
The police seized 200 million won in cash, 50 forged bank accounts, transaction ledgers, and applied Article 114 of the Criminal Act on organizing a criminal group, suspecting the formation of a new criminal organization for the distribution of forged bank accounts and money laundering purposes.
The Metropolitan Investigation Unit reported that A, a squad leader-level member in the Gyeongnam area, newly organized a criminal group composed of a forged bank account recruitment team and a money laundering team with junior members and followers from November 2019 to April 2021, applying the code of conduct of the existing criminal organization as is.
The police revealed that forged bank accounts were sold to criminal groups, and a monthly fee of 700,000 to 1,800,000 won per account was collected as commission and distributed according to the organizational hierarchy. It was also confirmed that a 3% commission was received from other criminal organizations for money laundering, estimating illegal income to have reached 4 billion won.
The police are expanding the investigation after confirming the involvement of violent organizations from other regions in the crime.
A police official stated, “Transferring bank accounts to others carelessly constitutes a violation of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, even if it was not known that they would be used for crimes.”
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