The National Police Agency announced on the 27th that it had forcibly repatriated two major fugitives from Vietnam, including members of a romance scam criminal organization based in Cambodia.
Suspect A is accused of collaborating with 65 accomplices from last year to this year, operating out of Cambodia, to pose as a woman on social networking services (SNS) and approach victims, defrauding 192 people of approximately 4.6 billion won. Initially, A was active as a member of a romance scam organization based in Bavet, Cambodia, but after crackdowns intensified in Cambodia, it was confirmed that A illegally entered Vietnam by land in October.
From 2020 to 2024, A is also accused of using macro programs to illegally upload a total of 15,863 instances of domestic and international movies, dramas, and web novels to 17 webhard sites. This case was selected in June as part of the Interpol Online Copyright Infringement Response Project (I-SOP), a joint fund initiative between the National Police Agency and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to combat online copyright infringement. As a result, on the 6th of last month, Vietnamese police apprehended the suspect, who was hiding in Khanh Hoa Province, on charges of illegal stay.
An official from the National Police Agency stated, "Romance scams and copyright infringement crimes organized overseas are serious offenses that directly harm our citizens. We will pursue these criminals to the end and ensure they face justice," adding, "We will continue to strengthen cooperation with related agencies such as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Interpol, further advancing our systems for eradicating transnational crime and repatriating fugitives from abroad."
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