Bangkok-based ‘paid dating’ phishing ring busted after dangling a “20,000 won membership fee” and swindling victims out of 1.7 billion won

[Financial News] Twenty-four people, including members of a phishing crime ring that operated a fake prostitution website from its base in Bangkok, Thailand, and holders of mule accounts, have been referred to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office. The ring is accused of carrying out scams worth around 1.7 billion won.
Police said on the 3rd that Seoul Songpa Police Station referred 24 people from July through September 15 to the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office, including 10 ring members and 14 mule-account holders, on suspicion of organizing, joining and participating in a criminal group and violating the Act on the Prevention of Loss Caused by Telecommunications-Based Financial Fraud and Refund for Loss, among other offenses. Nine of them were referred while in custody.
The suspects are accused of operating fake prostitution websites in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and elsewhere from August last year through June this year, and swindling victims out of money under various pretexts, including membership fees and reservation payments.
Police found that the ring rented an entire four-story villa in Bangkok, Thailand, and used it as both accommodation and an office. It carried out its crimes in an organized manner, equipping itself with computers, burner phones and other tools, and assigning members roles such as ringleader, overall manager, team leader and counselor. It also posted ads on Google, Telegram and overseas portal sites to recruit counselors for the operation.
The counselors approached victims in stages, with members assigned to the first, second and third stages. They initially demanded 20,000 won as a membership fee for a dating-matching service, then extracted additional payments for reservation deposits, security verification and system recovery. They used a tactic of reassuring victims by promising to return the money they had paid, while gradually demanding larger sums.
Nineteen accounts opened under borrowed names were used in the scheme. To evade investigators, the ring changed accounts about every two weeks and sometimes returned part of the money it had swindled to reassure victims.
So far, 11 victims have been identified, with losses of around 500 million won. However, based on an analysis of the accounts used in the scheme, police estimate that total losses could reach around 1.77 billion won.
Police arrested the ring members through international cooperation with Thai police. In June, the National Police Agency’s International Police Cooperation Bureau obtained intelligence about the criminal ring from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and Songpa Police Station and passed it on to Thai authorities. A joint operation with Thai police then led to the arrest of seven ring members in Bangkok on June 22.
The arrested ring members were repatriated to South Korea in three groups between July 16 and August 5. During the process, police also secured 53 seized items, including computers, mobile phones, solid-state drives (SSDs) and USB storage devices. Police additionally arrested three members who, at the time of the local crackdown, had either temporarily returned to South Korea on so-called “visa runs” to extend their stays or left the ring.
Police are conducting further investigations into 12 people whose suspected involvement in criminal activity has been confirmed, in addition to the 24 who were referred to prosecutors.
A police official urged the public to “be suspicious of phishing if someone they meet online asks for a membership fee, commission or money transfer,” adding that “suspicious phone calls or social media (SNS) conversations should be ended immediately.”
[email protected] Lee Dong-hyeok Reporter