A cash collector involved in a voice phishing scam, who claimed to be a prosecutor or an investigator and stole several hundred million won through fraudulent phone calls, has been arrested and referred to prosecution.
Jinju Police Station in Gyeongnam announced on the 2nd that they had arrested and referred to prosecution a man in his 50s, identified as A, for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes related to voice phishing. The police also recovered 500 million won in damages.
According to the police, A, a Chinese national, received and stole a check worth about 100 million won from a man in his 60s, identified as B, who had been deceived by a financial scam call, in front of Jinju Station around March 7.
Upon realizing he had been deceived, B immediately reported the incident to the police. Through analysis of closed-circuit (CC) TV footage, the police identified the suspect and arrested A at a motel in Seoul on the 18th of the same month.
A check seized by the police from a voice phishing cash collector. Provided by Gyeongnam Police Agency
At the time of arrest, A was in possession of five checks, each worth 100 million won, stolen from other victims. The police confiscated all of them and returned them to the victims.
Investigation revealed that the scam organization A belonged to impersonated investigators such as prosecutors, claiming that "personal information has been leaked" and deceived victims by promising to return their cash and checks after verification, only to steal the money.
During this process, A is believed to have carried out nearly 20 cash collection operations recently, handing over about one billion won to the organization.
The police stated, "Investigative agencies never request money over the phone, so you should hang up immediately if you receive such a call."
They further emphasized, "Recently, there has been a trend of phishing scams impersonating card delivery. Any call claiming that a card you did not apply for has been issued is a lie, so hang up immediately."
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