A voice phishing money laundering operator who set up a fake gift certificate company and embezzled tens of billions of won through a "gift certificate swap" scheme has been brought to trial.
On the 11th, the Fourth Criminal Division of the Seoul Western District Prosecutors' Office (headed by Chief Prosecutor Song Inho) announced that it had indicted and detained Mr. A (age 30), the head of the gift certificate company, on charges of violating the Act on the Refund of Damage from Telecommunication-based Financial Fraud and the Act on Regulation of Concealment of Criminal Proceeds.
According to the prosecution, starting around June last year, Mr. A is accused of converting 14.3 billion won in criminal proceeds, which had been stolen by voice phishing and stock trading scam organizations, into department store gift certificates and delivering them to the criminal organizations over a three-week period.
From November last year to May this year, individual reports from nine victims were filed at seven police stations nationwide, with confirmed damages amounting to over 900 million won. At the time, Mr. A claimed, "I was not aware that the funds were connected to a crime and believed it was a legitimate gift certificate transaction." The police initially referred Mr. A without detention on charges such as aiding and abetting fraud.
The prosecution requested a supplementary investigation from the Seoul Western Police Station to verify the actual transactions of the gift certificates and the full scale of the crime, and to apply for a detention warrant. The police identified a total of 25 victims and damages of over 5 billion won, and also discovered that Mr. A's gift certificate company office was a fake shell company with no real business activity. Mr. A was detained due to the significant scale of the crime and other factors.
A prosecution official stated, "Through close cooperation with the police, we will strictly punish those who commit crimes causing widespread harm to ordinary citizens and make every effort to recover criminal proceeds."
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