▲ Capture of an image showing the arrest of members of an investment reading scam ring
Police have arrested members of an investment reading scam ring that swindled about 1.5 billion won in cash and gold bars by impersonating famous stock experts.
The Daejeon Yuseong Police Station announced today (August 12) that it has apprehended eight members of an investment reading scam organization on charges of fraud and other offenses, and has formally detained six of them, including a domestic total fund manager identified by the surname A (a Chinese national).
A and the others are accused of deceiving five victims through social networking service (SNS) advertisements and YouTube ads related to stock investment last June, claiming that "participating in an investment project can yield returns of up to 100%," and taking 1.541 billion won worth of cash and gold bars.
The suspects induced the victims to click on a specific URL to install a fake stock trading app, then invited them into group chat rooms to lure them with fake profit verification posts and screens.
They also manipulated deposit and return records on the fake app screen to make it look as if normal investments were underway and generating huge profits.
They then instructed the victims to prepare physical assets, claiming that "to avoid bank account tracking and financial authority surveillance, you must invest directly in cash or gold bars."
The collection agents wore forged employee ID cards of prominent overseas financial institutions such as Bank of America (BoA) and handed over false investment certificates to reassure the victims.
The amounts stolen from five victims, including housewives and office workers who fell for this scheme, ranged from a minimum of 11 million won to a maximum of 1.3 billion won per person.
Operating with overseas-based ringleaders at the core, they moved in a compartmentalized cellular structure with strictly divided roles, including domestic total fund managers, money launderers, transporters, collection agents, and delivery agents.
The organization members shared only photos of physical appearances via Telegram, keeping each other's identities unknown.
Among the collection agents, there were even cases where individuals quit their regular jobs and jumped into the crime, enticed by commissions of 500,000 to 800,000 won per case.
A clever strategy utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology shone during the police's apprehension process.
While investigating a previously arrested collection agent, police captured circumstances indicating that a further instruction had been issued: "Meet another victim and collect gold bars from the higher-ups."
In response, the police used AI to produce a sophisticated fake gold bar photo and an investment certificate image, which they sent to the higher-ups to reassure them.
Subsequently, the police raided the rendezvous site and arrested domestic total fund manager A, who attempted to flee after receiving the final gold bar, recovering 258 million won in damages, including cash and gold bars, and preventing further harm.
Kim Mo, head of the investigative division at the Daejeon Yuseong Police Station, urged, "We are expanding our investigative pursuit by identifying overseas-based ringleaders and fund transporters. If someone sends a link under the guise of a stock investment project to induce app installation or encourages investment by showing profit verification screens in group chat rooms, it is highly likely to be a scam, so please exercise extreme caution."
(Photo: Provided by Yuseong Police Station, Yonhap News)
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