"This Is Prosecutor Kim Min-soo"... Police Catch Organization Behind Job Seeker's Tragic Death

[Anchor]

Six years ago, there was a heartbreaking incident where a man in his 20s preparing for a job took his own life after being tricked by a voice phishing scam where the caller claimed to be Prosecutor Kim Min-soo. After years of tracking and investigation, the police have apprehended the mastermind of the organization who was operating in China.

Reporter Kim Su-yun has the details.

[Reporter]

In 2020, a phone call was received by a job seeker in his 20s.

[Voice phishing syndicate member impersonating 'Prosecutor Kim Min-soo' (2020): I am Prosecutor Kim Min-soo, team leader of the High-Tech Crime Investigation Division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. I will briefly re-notify you with my actual voice.]

Pressuring the victim over the phone for 11 hours under the pretext of being involved in a crime, they extorted 4.2 million won, and the job seeker ultimately took his own life.

The police arrested 369 members of related voice phishing organizations from 2018 to 2023, and recently succeeded in apprehending the Chinese mastermind.

[Park Mu-gil / Busan Metropolitan Police Agency Metropolitan Investigation Unit: We apprehended 67 people, including masterminds of voice phishing organizations targeting institutions and financial companies based in China, and detained 17 of them.]

They recruited members through high-paying part-time job advertisements, assigned them roles such as counselors, burner phone account collectors, and USIM card gatherers, and systematically continued their crimes while living together in accommodations.

[Voice phishing organization counselor: This is the refinancing department of OOOOO, customer. Let me explain why you need to make the payment first.]

Their methods of deceiving victims were also meticulous.

They installed relay devices on uninhabited islands to disguise overseas calls as domestic numbers starting with "010," sent forged official identification cards, or transmitted fake IP access links so that fraudulent official documents would appear on the screen.

The police found that they impersonated prosecutors and financial institutions to scam about 230 people out of 5 billion won.

The police plan to continue their investigation by requesting Interpol red notices for 33 accomplices who are still at large and fleeing overseas.

(Photo: Busan Metropolitan Police Agency)

Reported by Jeong Kyung-mun | Video by Choi Hye-ran | Footage provided by Busan Metropolitan Police Agency
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.