Police Arrest on Site Following Report Against Gold Exchange Seller
A man in his 20s involved in voice phishing who pretended to have kidnapped a daughter and demanded money in return was arrested by the police.
The Jungnang Police Station in Seoul announced on the 24th that they had arrested a 28-year-old Chinese national, Mr. A, on charges of violating the Act on the Prevention of Telecommunications Financial Fraud and the Recovery of Damages (Telecommunications Fraud Damage Relief Act).
According to the police, Mr. A is suspected of calling the victim on the 13th, imitating the daughter's voice, saying "I have kidnapped your daughter," and attempting to extort 4.2 million KRW in cash and gold bars worth 10.09 million KRW under the pretext of releasing her.
When the victim visited a gold trading shop on the 15th to purchase gold bars, an employee at the shop, noticing the victim’s distressed behavior, suspected a voice phishing crime and reported it to the police, offering to help the victim through written communication while the victim was on the phone with Mr. A. The employee also loudly said "It's packaged" and handed over an empty product case so that Mr. A would not notice.
Later, when Mr. A met the victim and the victim demanded confirmation of the daughter's safety and refused to hand over the money, fearing arrest, Mr. A left the scene but was caught by police officers who had been dispatched following the report and were tailing him.
Police investigations revealed that Mr. A and his accomplices had also deceived other victims by claiming they had kidnapped their children and forcibly given them drugs, demanding money to save them, and had extorted a total of 16 million KRW in cash.
A police official stated, "We rewarded the informant who helped prevent damage and assisted in arresting the suspect," and added, "We will continue investigating accomplices and any additional crimes related to this case."
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