"Voice Phishing Seems Rare These Days": President Lee Praises Police and NIS

"Thanks to the Police Korea Task Force and the National Intelligence Service"

President Lee Jaemyung praised the police, the National Intelligence Service, and others involved in the arrest of suspects linked to overseas voice phishing crimes. Earlier, local investigative authorities in Cambodia had raided a large-scale online fraud hub and arrested more than 2,000 people involved in the crimes.

X post by President Lee Jaemyung. X screenshot

On the 6th, President Lee shared a related news article on his official X account, stating, "If you mess with Korea, you will be ruined. Among the 2,000 foreign criminals arrested in the Cambodian scam complex, the number of Koreans is zero."

He went on to say, "Doesn't it feel like voice phishing has eased a bit these days?" and explained, "It is thanks to the efforts of the Police Korea Task Force and the National Intelligence Service." According to the report President Lee shared, the Cambodian government recently raided an online fraud hub located in the border city of Banet near Vietnam. Local investigative authorities arrested 223 foreign suspects involved in crimes at the site. This is known to be the largest single voice phishing operation ever uncovered in Cambodia.

Looking at the nationalities of the 2,223 people arrested, 1,792 were Chinese, accounting for 80.6% of all those involved. They were followed by citizens of Myanmar (179), Vietnam (177), India (36), Nepal (30), Taiwan (5), Laos (2), Malaysia (1), and Mexico (1). No Koreans were included. Earlier, in the previous month, Cambodian investigative authorities had also extradited Chen Zhi, chairman of Prince Group, who had been identified as a key figure behind a transnational criminal organization, to China.

Meanwhile, the National Police Agency launched the Cambodia Korea Task Force in November last year. Since then, it has been rescuing suspects involved in online crimes such as voice phishing, as well as victims, on the ground. According to the National Police Agency, the Korea Task Force carried out a total of eight arrest operations over roughly 50 days after its launch, arresting 136 Korean criminal suspects and rescuing four Korean nationals.