By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter

Police have apprehended a group of people Monday on suspicion that they blackmailed randomly-picked government workers by threatening to disclose their extramarital affairs.

According to police, a man identified as Kim, 61, and his accomplices made random calls to civil servants and employees of public firms and blackmailed them by falsely claiming they had photos and video recordings of them entering hotels with women.

The blackmailers got names, office phone numbers and positions of victims from the official Web sites of their organizations, police said.

The investigation showed 14 out of 23 who were blackmailed ended up transferring money to Kim and his gang, totaling about 40 million won. They were swindled out of 1.3-8 million won each, police said.

Most of the victims made a lame excuse by saying they simply did not want to be involved in a disgraceful incident even though they knew it was a false accusation but police said it shows that ``a guilty conscience needs no accuser.''

The swindlers plotted the crime as a new way of voice-phishing, using public phones to avoid police tracing and opening bank accounts under part-time workers' names.

Police are now hunting for another accomplice who has previous convictions for blackmailing in 2002 and 2005.

``We are expanding the investigation as there might be more victims,'' a police officer said.

e3dward@koreatimes.co.kr