Departed After Seeing High-Paying Job Ad, Then Confined in Thailand
Police Ingenuity and Korea-Thailand Cooperation Lead to Arrest of 7 Organization Members
A man in his 30s who traveled to Thailand in search of a high-paying job and was subsequently confined by a local voice phishing organization has been rescued thanks to his mother’s report and swift police cooperation.
On February 1, Yonhap News reported this incident, citing an announcement from the Pocheon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province.
At around 11:30 p.m. on January 27, the Pocheon Police Station received an emergency call from Naechon-myeon, Pocheon City, stating, "My son, who went to Thailand to earn money, called me in tears and said he seems to be held captive."
At the time, the son, referred to as Mr. A, managed to call his mother for help by telling the organization’s members that his father was critically ill, thereby evading their surveillance.
The violent crime unit at Pocheon Police Station immediately met with the mother to assess the situation. The team leader pretended to be Mr. A’s uncle during a phone call to maintain communication. Through this process, the police obtained key information, including the location of Mr. A’s accommodation in downtown Bangkok. They promptly contacted the Korean consul in Thailand through diplomatic channels and requested urgent cooperation from the local Thai police.
Local police and consular officials then responded, approaching Mr. A as if they were relatives or acquaintances at around 2 a.m. the following day. They succeeded in getting Mr. A to leave his accommodation and secured his safety. Mr. A was found to be in good health and returned to Korea later that same afternoon.
After rescuing Mr. A, the Pocheon Police Station’s violent crime unit requested that Thai authorities investigate the organization members present at the location. As a result, they assisted in the arrest of a total of seven individuals: five Koreans, one Chinese national, and one Thai national.
According to the police investigation, Mr. A had seen a high-paying recruitment advertisement for a Thai design company posted on Telegram and departed for Bangkok on January 26. However, immediately upon arrival, he was confined in a motel room in downtown Bangkok and forced to undergo training related to voice phishing crimes. The police plan to summon Mr. A soon to investigate the exact circumstances of the incident and the scale of the organization.
A police official stated, "Crimes involving confinement and coercion under the pretense of high-paying overseas jobs continue to occur," and urged, "Please exercise particular caution with overseas job offers from unclear sources."
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