A group involved in child impersonation messenger phishing scams in Vietnam and South Korea has been arrested by the police.
The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency Cyber Crime Investigation Unit announced on the 26th that they arrested six suspects on charges of messenger phishing scams, detaining five of them, and issued international warrants (Interpol Red Notices) for four suspects who fled overseas.
Additionally, 21 individuals who provided burner phones and burner accounts on charges including violation of the Telecommunications Business Act are under non-custodial investigation.
According to the police, from March 2021 to June 2023, the group impersonated children to request personal and financial information or to install remote access apps, defrauding approximately 15.5 billion KRW from 155 victims.
The ringleader, Mr. A (a man in his 40s), and nine others, who were neighborhood friends and SNS acquaintances, operated offices in both Vietnam and South Korea. In Vietnam, they executed the messenger phishing scams, while in South Korea, they recruited burner SIM cards and accounts, and laundered the stolen money through illegal gambling sites, dividing roles to carry out the crimes.
They reportedly used a new money laundering method to evade financial institutions' payment suspension measures by transferring funds from victims' accounts to gambling site deposit accounts, then refunding the money to third-party accounts, and finally withdrawing the funds in Vietnam.
The suspects stated, "Even if gambling operators become aware of the money laundering, since gambling itself is illegal, they cannot report it to investigative agencies, which we exploited."
It was also revealed that when gambling accounts to which stolen funds were transferred were suspended following victim reports, the suspects contacted the gambling operators pretending to be reporters and demanded money in exchange for canceling the reports.
The police seized 32 mobile phones used in the crimes, 121 burner SIM cards and accounts, and recovered a total of 750 million KRW in criminal proceeds, including 450 million KRW secured by court order.
A police official emphasized, "Personal and financial information carelessly stored on smartphones has become a target for scammers, so special caution is required," and stressed individual security awareness by saying, "Even if the request for such information comes from family or acquaintances, one should first suspect messenger phishing."
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