Luring Young People With High Earnings Since 2023
Passive Response by Authorities Has Worsened the Situation
While 'Hades Cafe' has been identified as a hub for crimes related to Cambodia and has been luring young Koreans with promises of 'high earnings' for two years, authorities have responded passively, limiting their actions to blocking only a few posts. On October 15, Yonhap News reported that the Korea Communications Standards Commission (currently the Korea Communications and Media Standards Commission, hereafter referred to as the KCC) took action in June by blocking access (requesting corrective measures) to certain posts about 'selling portal site IDs' uploaded on Hades Cafe. An official from the KCC stated, "The entire site must be judged to contain illegal content in order to be blocked," adding, "We need to further review whether it is an illegal site that should be blocked, and it is difficult to make a definitive judgment."
Established in 2023, Hades Cafe has served as a major platform that brokers so-called 'high-paying overseas part-time jobs,' including voice phishing and recruiting for bank accounts under borrowed names. Over the past year, among the approximately 18,000 posts on the site, only 100 to 200 posts related to illegal ID trading were flagged by authorities. The vast majority of the remaining posts were about recruiting 'TM (telemarketing) staff' to work overseas in places like Cambodia or soliciting people to provide bank accounts under borrowed names.
The site administrators introduce the community in their notices as "a community for online business operators," and state that posts promoting 'general distributors' (recruiters) or gambling sites, or recruiting members, may be registered. They also warn that posts related to loans, bank accounts, 'Bopi' (voice phishing), or drugs will be deleted without notice and subject to sanctions, but exceptions are made for 'premium companies.'
Authorities Remain Idle Even as Illegal Activities Are Openly Committed by Site Operators
Hades Cafe designates certain companies as premium companies after receiving a 'deposit' from them and directly promotes them, stating, "If you suffer damages from these companies and the facts are confirmed, we will compensate you for the amount lost." Under the current Information and Communications Network Act, the KCC can block access to internet pages used for criminal purposes or containing content that incites or aids crime. In particular, if the main purpose of a site or the majority of its content is illegal, the entire site can be shut down.
Cho Hyun, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is responding to a question from Yoon Hoo-duk, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, regarding crimes against Koreans in Cambodia during the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee's government audit held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 13th. Photo by Yonhap News
The KCC's review process was completely halted for four months from June 2 due to delays in forming the committee. Although the newly restructured KCC launched on October 1, ongoing controversy over the succession of previous committee members is expected to delay the full formation of the committee for some time. Despite the fact that the site operators are openly engaging in illegal activities, the KCC is being criticized for its complacent and superficial response.
In an interview with Yonhap News, Mr. A, a man in his 30s who was nearly lured to Cambodia by a recruiter for bank accounts under borrowed names he met on Hades Cafe after being threatened by an illegal lender in June, expressed outrage at the authorities' passive approach, calling it "nonsense." He said, "Even now, I keep hearing stories about people planning to go to Cambodia to create bank accounts under borrowed names through Hades Cafe, or who have already arrived there. If the site is not blocked quickly, it is obvious that there will be even more victims." On the previous day alone, more than 70 posts seeking or offering high-paying part-time jobs were uploaded to Hades Cafe. Although access to the site is currently blocked following media reports, similar communities continue to thrive in secret, making it all the more urgent for the government to take active measures.
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