"Listing Is Imminent"... Police Arrest Phishing Rings Using Fake Trading Websites

A phishing ring that deceived investors and stole billions of won through fake unlisted stock trading websites has been apprehended by the police.

A team-building event of a phishing organization gang. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency

On August 5, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Unit announced that it had arrested 46 individuals, including the leaders, managers, and recruiters of three phishing organizations, as well as fake website developers and brokers, on charges of violating the Act on Compensation for Losses from Telecommunications Fraud and forming a criminal organization. Of these, 26 recruiters from the phishing organizations are still under investigation, while 20 people?including the ringleaders, developers, and brokers?have been detained and referred for prosecution.

According to the police, from April to July, the three phishing organizations operated call centers in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions. They lured 182 investors to fake stock trading websites by offering bait such as free allocations or pre-deposits, and falsely promised, "If you buy unlisted stocks that are certain to be listed at a low price, you will earn high returns." Using this method, they are accused of defrauding investors of approximately 9.4 billion won.

The suspects used fake business cards, stock ledgers, and stock deposit certificates. After receiving investment funds from victims, they would cut off contact and then repeat the same scheme from another call center.

Each member of the organizations, who were connected through senior-junior relationships in the same region, primarily targeted people in their 50s and older. In fact, 92% of all victims were aged 50 or above, with the largest individual loss amounting to 900 million won.

The developer of the fake websites supplied 19 fake sites to 14 phishing organizations and received 40 million won per month as sales and management fees. Two brokers who mediated these deals received 30 million won per month each.

A police official stated, "Following traditional phishing methods such as impersonating the police, there is a growing trend of new phishing schemes that lure people into buying stocks through fake websites. These fake sites often display real stock indices and forge documents, so it is important for investors to directly call the relevant institutions to verify the facts."