"Developed by Highly Educated PhDs... Full Refund if Not Selected"
Fraudulent Organization Recruiting Members with False Advertising Exposed
A gang that swindled 8.5 billion won from about 7,900 people by claiming they could make them win the lottery using a program developed by highly educated researchers was caught by the police.
According to Yonhap News on the 5th, the Criminal Mobile Unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency announced that they arrested two ringleaders in their 30s, including Mr. A, on charges of fraud and organized crime, and sent them to the prosecution. The police also referred 139 members of the organization, including Mr. B, a person in charge of accounting in his 20s, to the prosecution without detention on the same charges.
Mr. A and his group are accused of running two lottery winning number prediction websites from October 2021 to April this year, swindling about 8.5 billion won from 7,908 members. They established fake "ghost corporations," rented two offices in Incheon city, and operated the lottery number prediction sites while posting false advertisements on social networking services (SNS) claiming "Guaranteed 1st to 3rd prize lottery wins three times. Full refund if not won."
The gang claimed, "A research team composed of highly educated PhDs developed a program with a large investment, and the general analysis office provides expected winning numbers for 1st to 3rd prizes every week," attracting members through phone consultations.
They charged members an initial registration fee of 300,000 won, and if the member did not win the 3rd prize within the agreed 10-month period, they demanded additional upgrade fees by promising to provide numbers guaranteed to win the 1st prize within six months through re-consultation. The membership levels offered were divided into four tiers: Blind (VIP), Gold, Silver, and Bronze, requiring additional fees ranging from a minimum of 300,000 won to a maximum of 5 million won.
However, it was revealed that the program developed by Mr. A’s group had no scientific basis, as it randomly combined past winning numbers. One victim reportedly joined multiple times and paid up to 30 million won but never won the lottery.
Investigations found that they operated as an organized fraud crime group. The organization was centered around 10 key personnel, including four ringleaders who served as representatives of the ghost corporations, programmers, accounting staff, and general team leaders. Among the four ringleaders, three were members of violent organizations. They also had about 120 counselors responsible for luring victims and five team leaders managing them, conducting their crimes systematically.
The police froze assets worth about 2.8 billion won, including deposits and lease guarantees, belonging to the four ringleaders as a seizure preservation measure. Seizure preservation is a legal action that prevents suspects from transferring or selling specific assets before their sentences are finalized, to avoid the assets being hidden or disposed of.
A police official stated, "We plan to strengthen intelligence gathering related to financial fraud involving violent organization members," and urged, "Be cautious not to be deceived by advertisements from ghost companies guaranteeing large lottery winnings."
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