Prosecutors Appeal 1-Year Sentence for Active Banker Involved in Voice Phishing Fake Account Opening

3-Year Prison Sentence Requested in First Trial

The prosecution has appealed after a current bank employee involved in opening ghost accounts for a voice phishing organization was sentenced to one year in prison in the first trial.

Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 9th, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office announced that it had filed an appeal against the first trial verdict for Mr. A, who was indicted on charges including embezzlement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced Mr. A to one year in prison and ordered his detention on the 3rd. From January to August 2022, Mr. A assisted Mr. B, the head of ghost account distribution, in opening ghost accounts and, in return, attracted subscriptions to Mr. B’s fund and insurance products. He also leaked information about fraud victims who deposited money into the ghost accounts to Mr. B. The amount of damage caused by voice phishing using these ghost accounts reached 6.2 billion KRW. The prosecution sought a three-year prison sentence.

The prosecution stated that it appealed considering ▲the fact that a current bank employee played an indispensable role in the distribution of ghost accounts and the activities of the voice phishing organization by helping open ghost accounts and lifting transaction suspensions on compromised accounts ▲the accounts Mr. A helped open were actually used in voice phishing crimes ▲and that this is a serious crime that directly contradicts the public nature of financial institution employees.

The prosecution said, "We will do our best to ensure that a sentence commensurate with the nature of the crime is handed down in the appellate trial," and added, "We will continue to respond strictly to voice phishing and ghost account distribution crimes in the future."