Approached Investors Who Lost Money in Reading Room... Embezzled 3.5 Billion KRW
12 Years Imprisonment for Mastermind in First Trial... 14 Sentenced to Prison
The mastermind behind a new type of voice phishing, who approached victims claiming to compensate losses from stock investments and embezzled about 3.5 billion KRW, was sentenced to a heavy prison term.
On the 21st, Yonhap News reported that the Criminal Division 3 of the Namyangju Branch of Uijeongbu District Court (Judge Seong Jae-min) sentenced A (33), a Chinese national and the mastermind indicted on charges of fraud, to 12 years in prison and ordered a fine of about 350 million KRW. The court also sentenced four accomplices in charge of collection to 5 to 7 years in prison, and nine accomplices in charge of luring to 2 to 5 years in prison. Among them, 10 individuals were fined between 700,000 and 11 million KRW each, and part of the criminal proceeds, including virtual assets held by the group, were confiscated.
A and others were arrested and brought to trial on charges of systematically approaching dozens of investors who suffered losses in stocks from May to June last year and embezzling a total of 3.5 billion KRW. Investigations revealed that they targeted investors who had losses among members of stock leading chat rooms. A and his group deceived victims by posing as a compensation team of a certain investment group and approached them with promises to compensate losses using virtual currency with the same value as the dollar.
During this process, the luring accomplices classified the targets into categories such as ▲easy targets ▲economic trend type ▲investment interest type ▲question type. They even prepared documents detailing attack points and income levels for each type and delivered them to mastermind A. The group then sent worthless scam coins to the loss investors, deceiving them into believing they were compensated. They also obtained investors' ID cards and digital certificates under the pretext of identity verification. Using the financial transaction information obtained this way, A and his group executed non-face-to-face loans of up to 300 million KRW from card companies and others under the names of the loss investors, embezzling the money.
The first trial court pointed out, "The crime is of a bad nature as it exploited the psychological state of victims who suffered investment losses to cause additional damage." However, the court acquitted them of charges related to organizing, joining, and participating in a criminal organization. The court judged, "Mastermind A initially established a corporation mainly for referral sales, but due to poor business performance, he likely conspired to commit fraud by introducing 'coin loss compensation'." Referral sales is a legitimate business method where customers join virtual asset exchanges through recommended codes and receive a portion of the transaction fees as compensation from the exchange. Regarding sentencing, the court explained, "The amount embezzled by systematically deceiving many victims is close to 3.5 billion KRW, and most victims want punishment."
After the first trial verdict, both the prosecution and the defendants appealed, citing reasons such as unfair sentencing and factual errors.
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