"Receive Samsung Electronics Stock Just by Signing Up"...Indictment of Fake Securities Company Website Operators

[Financial News] A cyber crime organization that developed, sold, and operated 105 fake securities company websites causing large-scale damage to the public has been uncovered.
Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office Cyber Crime Investigation Department (Chief Prosecutor Shim Hyeong-seok) announced on the 27th that they tracked illegal spam messages and uncovered the development, sales, and operation organizations of fake securities company websites and the illegal spam text message company, arresting and indicting 6 people and indicting 5 without detention. 
According to the prosecution, the development organization of the fake securities company websites created 105 fake securities company websites and delivered them to the sales organization, which then sold the websites to each fake securities company operation organization through advertisements. 
According to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, the development, sales, and operation organizations of the fake securities company websites ‘○○Asset’ did not know each other's personal information and only communicated via Telegram, using overseas servers and paying costs with virtual assets to systematically divide their crimes based on IT to evade investigation. The development organization established and operated a program development company, pretending to engage in legitimate program development, and communicated with the sales organization using pseudonyms only through Telegram, with payments exchanged in cash near subway stations. The sales organization concealed their crimes by using overseas servers and burner phones.
In particular, the operation organization ran the fake securities company websites, pretending to be legitimate companies, luring investors by claiming they could invest with high leverage, and when investors requested withdrawals, they closed the servers to embezzle large sums. The text message company received an additional 10 won per message from the operation organization for sending illegal spam messages and sent a total of 2.8 million spam messages.
Last year, a total of 360 million spam message reports were received. Among them, stock and investment types accounted for about 94 million, approximately 26% of the total. In response, the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office conducted practical consultations with the Korea Internet & Security Agency and initiated an investigation after receiving stock-related spam report information, confirming that a total of approximately 111.5 billion won flowed into the 105 sites sold by the fake securities company website organization. Currently, the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office has completed the closure of each site through the Korea Internet & Security Agency to block additional crimes, seizing 1.075 billion won in criminal proceeds during the arrest process and preserving 2.45439 billion won in remaining criminal proceeds for confiscation to recover criminal profits. The investigation started in July last year and continued until this month.


yesji@fnnews.com Kim Yeji Reporter