Romance scam ring that swindled 10.8 billion won busted; police reward 15 outstanding cases

[Financial News] Police officers who made notable progress in combating phishing crimes, including arresting a romance scam ring that operated overseas and defrauded victims of sums in the 10-billion-won range, will receive special performance awards.
The National Office of Investigation under the Korean National Police Agency announced on the 29th that it had selected 15 cases for outstanding results in arresting offenders and preventing losses from phishing crimes, and would award a total of 50 million won in special performance bonuses.
The awards were decided after evaluating achievements from January through August in areas including the arrest of criminal organizations, disruption of their methods, assistance to victims, and prevention efforts. The selected cases comprised nine involving the arrest of overseas-based phishing organizations, two involving the disruption of criminal methods and assistance to victims, and four involving prevention and public outreach.
The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency’s Phishing Team 1 of Metropolitan Investigation Unit 1 and the Sejong Police Agency’s Violent and Drug Crime Investigation Unit received top honors. Each team will receive 7 million won.
The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency’s Phishing Team 1 investigated a romance scam ring based in Cambodia that swindled approximately 10.8 billion won from 243 victims from April 2024 through September last year. It arrested 89 people, including Korean ringleaders. Of those, 25 were taken into custody.
The Sejong Police Agency’s Violent and Drug Crime Investigation Unit arrested 11 members of a voice-phishing ring that operated in China, Thailand, Laos and elsewhere, defrauding 68 victims of approximately 3.1 billion won from March last year through this March. Seven of the suspects were taken into custody.
The group is suspected of posing as credit card companies, courts, prosecutors’ offices and the Financial Supervisory Service to deceive victims into believing they were implicated in crimes and swindle them out of money. Police have requested that the International Criminal Police Organization issue Red Notices for 10 people linked to the group and are continuing to pursue other suspects.
Other cases recognized for outstanding results included the arrest of 84 members of a money-laundering and no-show scam ring operating out of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and the arrest of 28 people, including members of a ring that laundered around 26 billion won in phishing proceeds. In the latter case, assets worth about 8 billion won were provisionally frozen pending confiscation.
The selected cases also included the arrest of 65 members linked to the so-called “Ma Dong-seok” team, a name used as an alias, which carried out investment scams in Cambodia. The group is suspected of swindling approximately 26.9 billion won from 133 victims from September through November last year. Police provisionally froze 585 million won in criminal proceeds pending confiscation.
Awards also recognized efforts to block accounts and websites used in phishing scams and prevent losses, in addition to arresting criminal organizations.
The Data Analysis Office of the Joint Response Team for Telecommunications Financial Fraud at the Korean National Police Agency worked with major messaging services to block 61,435 accounts suspected of being used in crimes and 9,385 chat rooms from October last year through August. It also restricted access to 575 fraudulent websites.
The office also analyzed conversations related to the crimes, sent 53,642 warning text messages to people at risk of being victimized, and made 3,303 calls to provide guidance. The efforts were estimated to have prevented losses amounting to approximately 2.76 billion won.
In May, Team 1 of the 1st Metropolitan Preventive Patrol Unit of the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency spotted an elderly person at risk of falling victim to voice phishing during a foot patrol and prevented a transfer of 3 million won. From January through August, the team also met in person with 30 people at risk of being victimized, including through the installation of malicious apps, and prevented losses of approximately 540 million won.
The Korean National Police Agency is strengthening its system for responding to phishing crimes in cooperation with relevant agencies, with the Joint Response Team for Telecommunications Financial Fraud, launched on September 29 last year, at the center of those efforts. The team operates a 24-hour reporting and consultation service and blocks phone numbers, accounts and websites used in crimes.
According to the Korean National Police Agency, 9,333 voice-phishing cases were reported from January through September, down 50.2% from 18,746 in the same period the previous year. Losses over the same period also fell 57.5%, from 986.7 billion won to 419.6 billion won.
Police plan to share the award-winning cases with police agencies nationwide and step up efforts to track overseas-based phishing organizations and prevent victimization.
Hong Seok-gi, head of the National Office of Investigation at the Korean National Police Agency, said, “We will continue to actively identify and reward police officers who achieve outstanding results in protecting the public’s valuable assets, and press ahead with a whole-of-government response that encompasses both arrests and prevention.”


[email protected] Kim Ye-ji Reporter