14 Arrested and 40 Referred Without Detention
On Charges of Fraud and Criminal Organization Formation
A group that deceived people by promising to refund 35% of the cost when purchasing items through joint purchases on shopping malls and embezzled billions of won has been collectively handed over to the prosecution.
On the 13th, the Cyber Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced that they had arrested and sent to prosecution 14 people, including the ringleader Mr. A, who created fake shopping mall sites and gained illicit profits by using joint purchases as bait, on charges of fraud and organizing a criminal group, and sent 40 lower-ranking members to prosecution without detention.
They are accused of deceiving an unspecified number of people from November last year to September this year by claiming that "if you make a joint purchase of items on the shopping mall site, you can earn a 35% profit rate," and embezzling about 8.8 billion won from 301 people in total.
According to the police, they divided their roles into lure organizations, deception organizations, and fake SIM card supply organizations to carry out the crimes.
First, the lure organization randomly called contacts obtained through an illegal personal information database (DB) and attracted members by saying, "If you participate in the review event of a newly opened shopping mall, you will receive a mobile gift certificate." Then, three members of the deception organization formed a team to induce joint purchases of high-priced products such as refrigerators. Afterwards, when members who participated in the joint purchase requested refunds, they sometimes demanded additional amounts citing reasons such as advance payment of fees.
They also alternately opened 69 fake sites to avoid crackdowns and maintained strict security by using only Telegram and aliases among members. All communications and financial transactions were conducted using virtual private networks (VPNs), fake phones, and fake bank accounts. The final criminal proceeds were investigated to have been laundered into virtual assets by an overseas ringleader and then handed over to the domestic ringleader, who distributed them to the members.
Illegal personal information database seized by the police. Provided by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency
During the investigation, which combined 301 similar damage reports filed nationwide, the police identified three overseas ringleaders and are working to repatriate them to Korea through Interpol.
In addition, about 1.1 billion won of the criminal proceeds they obtained were seized or preserved before prosecution. The police plan to continue investigating additional members while continuously tracking the hidden criminal proceeds of the group.
A police official said, "Similar fraud methods are diversifying and evolving, exploiting the psychology of ordinary people by using simple work-from-home part-time jobs as bait, such as writing movie reviews or music reviews." He added, "If you are asked for money under the pretext of high-paying part-time jobs, you should suspect fraud, and if you receive text messages or calls recruiting part-time jobs on major online platforms, you should contact the company to verify the authenticity."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
