By Kang Aa-young, Park Si-soo
A Malaysian man has been jailed for a year over a fake kidnapping phone scam.
The man, 37, was caught in January after making a phone call to a randomly selected person in Ulsan on Jan. 8. He told the receiver that he had kidnapped his daughter and demanded 27 million won ($25,399) ransom.
The father wired the money but soon realized he had been duped. He reported the incident to police, who caught the suspect days after.
The Malaysian was found to be a member of a domestic voice phishing syndicate. The suspect told police he took 500,000 won from the wired money and shared the rest with his colleagues. Police are looking for other people involved.
“With phone fraud emerging as a serious social headache, the accused deserves stern punishment,” Ulsan District Court judge Oh Chang-seop wrote in a ruling statement.