Gangwon police arrest 34, including a group that collected mule accounts and handed them to a gambling ring, as well as account holders

【Financial News, Chuncheon = Reporter Kim Gi-seop】A group that recruited hometown seniors and juniors, by promising to pay 1.5 million won for each newly opened account they handed over supplied 32 mule accounts to an illegal gambling website operation. The group and those who lent their names were arrested in a police crackdown.
Gangwon Provincial Police Agency said on the 14th that its Metropolitan Crime Investigation Unit had arrested 34 people, including those who collected mule accounts and handed them to an illegal gambling website operation, as well as the account holders. The group divided up the roles of recruitment ringleader, manager and recruiter, then approached local senior and junior acquaintances they already knew, among others, from last year through around April this year. They promised to pay about 1.5 million won per account and had the recruits open new bank accounts. Investigators believe the group handed 32 accounts obtained this way to a gambling website operation.
Police launched an investigation after receiving a tip that mule accounts were being recruited and circulated. Over the following six months or so, they analyzed mobile phones used in the crimes and related accounts, identifying the accomplices one by one. The recruitment ringleader had already been arrested and was in custody on the same charges, so this time was booked without detention.
The current Electronic Financial Transactions Act provides for punishment for lending or transferring access media, such as bankbooks or debit cards, to another person in exchange for payment. This means that account holders who hand over their accounts for money cannot avoid punishment either. Because mule accounts are used as channels for funds in a range of crimes, including voice phishing as well as gambling, police plan to continue cracking down on distribution networks.
Gangwon Provincial Police Agency Chief Kwak Byeong-u said, “Even if someone close to you, such as a senior or junior acquaintance, asks you, the moment you hand over an account or phone for money, you are effectively putting a tool in the hands of a criminal organization, and the person who hands it over is also subject to punishment.” He added, “If someone you know makes you such an offer, refuse firmly and report it to the police immediately.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter