Public Institution Impersonation 'No-Show Scam' Ring Based in Thailand Busted

Young men in their 20s and 30s pass through the Incheon Airport arrivals area surrounded by police.

This is the scene from last May when a gang that committed no-show scams against small domestic businesses while impersonating public institutions was arrested in Thailand and repatriated.

Composed of young men ranging from their early 20s to mid-30s, the organization set up a call center at a resort in Pattaya, Thailand, last February and operated in two teams.

First, the team responsible for gathering burner accounts approached gambling site users, telling them, "We will compensate for the money you lost to gambling."

They even showed forged guarantee insurance documents, saying, "Personal information is needed to calculate the compensation," and obtained account numbers and passwords.

After securing accounts under other people's names in this manner, the so-called no-show scam team went into action.

They approached small domestic suppliers by posing as officials from public institutions, local governments, and national universities, placing large orders for goods.

[Lee Gye-hyung / Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Metropolitan Investigation Unit, Phishing Scam Investigation Division 2: Because equipment suppliers are small-scale, when such large-scale transactions are proposed, they cannot easily refuse and tend to trust them well.]

In addition to the goods the suppliers were selling, they would also ask them to purchase other items, such as fire extinguishers or fire blankets, from different businesses they designated instead. These specific businesses were all fake companies fabricated by the gang.

By having these purchasing agency amounts deposited into the burner accounts secured in advance, the confirmed victims to date number 22, with total damages reaching 600 million won.

Last April, police apprehended 10 members of the organization on charges of joining and operating a criminal organization, fraud, and violations of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, forwarding 8 of them to the prosecution in custody and 2 without detention.

Reported by Kim Minjun | Video by Yoon Hyung | Graphics by Lee Sangmin | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.