[Anchor]
A gang that stole over 6 billion won through voice phishing scams impersonating prosecutors and the Financial Supervisory Service has been caught by the police. It was found that they even forced victims to undergo so-called self-confinement and take nude photos.
Reporter Dong Eunyeong has the details.
[Reporter]
A man wearing a white hat and a raincoat passes through the arrivals hall with both arms held by detectives.
He is Mr. A, a Korean mastermind in his 20s who carried out voice phishing scams based in Bangkok, Thailand, while impersonating prosecutors and the Financial Supervisory Service.
The police announced that they arrested 11 members of the gang, including Mr. A, and detained 9 of them.
Investigations revealed that Mr. A's gang systematically deceived victims by assigning fake roles to organization members, such as prosecutors, prosecution investigators, and Financial Supervisory Service employees.
It was found that an organization member posing as a prosecution investigator would approach a victim and threaten that their bank account was linked to a crime and an arrest warrant had been issued. Then, a member posing as a prosecutor would show forged official documents and instruct the victim to go to a motel. Finally, a member posing as an FSS employee would swindle money under the pretext of a deposit to resolve the case.
The number of victims confirmed to have fallen prey to Mr. A's gang stands at 68, with total damages reaching 6.7 billion won.
During the crimes, the gang is also accused of producing sexually explicit material by instructing victims to take nude photos of themselves under the pretext of conducting a physical examination.
[Lee Kye-hyung / Head of Phishing Investigation Unit 2, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency : As a means to exert more effective psychological control, they filmed naked bodies and used the footage later for secondary crimes....]
The police stated that they plan to continue tracking down the remaining 9 syndicate members through Interpol Red Notices and other measures.
(Photo courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency)
Reported by Joo Yong-jin | Video by Choi Jin-hwa | Footage provided by Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency
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