Police Arrest Four Members of "Setup Crime" Ring
Fraudulent Gambling at Overseas Casinos with Local Staff Involvement
A criminal group known as a "setup crime" ring, which lured wealthy individuals overseas with offers of free golf trips, arranged prostitution with local minors, and then extorted hundreds of millions of won by promising to cover up the incidents, has been apprehended by police.
On August 7, Yonhap News reported that the Drug Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency arrested four people, including the group's ringleader, Mr. A (in his 60s), on charges of extortion and violation of the Act on the Protection and Use of Location Information. One additional suspect was booked without detention. Police are also coordinating with local authorities to extradite another organizer who planned the crimes overseas. The suspects are accused of enticing businessman Mr. B to travel to Thailand for a golf trip in December 2022, then inducing him to engage in prostitution with a minor and extorting over 240 million won from him under the pretense of quashing an investigation.
According to police, Mr. A began approaching Mr. B in a calculated manner more than a month before luring him to Thailand. He met Mr. B at a golf gathering, built rapport by addressing him as "older brother," and secretly attached a location tracker to Mr. B's vehicle to orchestrate seemingly coincidental encounters, quickly becoming close. Later, Mr. A claimed he had recently made a hole-in-one and received a free overseas golf trip ticket, using this as a pretext to lure Mr. B to Thailand.
In Thailand, Mr. A arranged for Mr. B to engage in prostitution with a minor, then staged a fake arrest to make it appear as if Mr. B had been apprehended for prostitution. The local organizer played various roles in this scheme. Frightened, Mr. B was told he needed money to resolve the investigation and was only released after transferring more than 200 million won.
This case came to light after Mr. B learned through media reports in September 2023 that a group using similar methods had been arrested, prompting him to confide in people around him. Following a police investigation based on this tip, Mr. A and his accomplices were apprehended and referred to the prosecution in November last year. Mr. A and his co-conspirators were sentenced to three to five years in prison in the first trial and have since appealed.
During the investigation, police also uncovered additional criminal activity by Mr. A. Police confirmed that Mr. A, along with six other accomplices, swindled money through fraudulent gambling at overseas casinos. From October 2023 to April last year, they allegedly targeted five victims, including Mr. C, at a casino in Cambodia, defrauding them of approximately 950 million won.
In this case as well, Mr. A met the victims at golf practice ranges and elsewhere, then lured them to Cambodia under the pretense of a golf trip, where he used tricks to make them lose money at the casino. They even recruited casino staff to make it appear as if Mr. C had incurred a gambling debt of $700,000 and staged a scenario in which his companions were being held at the casino because of this debt, extorting 680 million won in a single instance.
Police referred this case to the prosecution in June on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud).
Police determined that this case was a typical "setup crime," in which individuals with no intent to commit a crime were deliberately entangled in criminal activity and then had their fears exploited for extortion.
A police official stated, "Victims suffered in silence, unable to report the crimes due to fears of being prosecuted for prostitution with minors or gambling offenses, and were reluctant to testify even during the investigation. Demanding money by threatening criminal prosecution is a clear crime, so victims should not comply but instead report such incidents promptly."
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