A group of individuals has been indicted while in custody for forging documents in the name of overseas institutions and submitting them to a court while on trial for fraud, and for falsely accusing their victim of a crime.

The Bucheon Branch of the Incheon District Prosecutors Office announced on Friday (June 26) that it has indicted a company CEO in his 60s, identified as A, and an auditor in his 50s, identified as B, on charges of forging private documents, uttering forged private documents, and false accusation.

A and his accomplices are accused of conspiring with members of an international financial fraud ring around March 2023 to forge documents in the names of overseas institutions, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.K. National Crime Agency, and Truist Bank in the U.S.

The documents reportedly contained claims that 750 billion won in company-owned overseas funds were scheduled to be remitted from the U.S. to South Korea.

A and his group also used these forged documents while swindling 310 million won from a victim, C, in December 2023.

Investigations revealed that after they were put on trial for fraud, they submitted these forged documents to the court last December to claim their innocence.

During the trial, they also filed a false complaint against victim C, claiming that C had coerced them into signing a financial contract, thereby falsely accusing the victim.

Upon launching an investigation, the prosecution tracked the original IP address of the emails that sent the documents to A and his group, confirming that they were sent from impersonated accounts, not from the actual institutions.

Furthermore, after requesting a forensic analysis of the signatures used in each document from the Supreme Prosecutors Office, investigators proved that the group had taken a single signature file and enlarged or reduced it to paste onto various documents.

It was also discovered that some local bank branches in Korea were deceived by the group and stamped the forged documents with the branch manager's seal, which were then used in further fraudulent activities.

The prosecution also confirmed that during this process, A and his group swindled an additional 220 million won from another victim.

A prosecution official stated, "We uncovered additional crimes committed by the defendants, who were initially indicted for simple fraud, through various forensic techniques during the trial process," adding, "We will do our best to ensure the defendants receive sentences commensurate with their crimes."

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