By Lee Hyo-sik
A Chinese criminal ring suspected of having stolen billions of won from Koreans through a “voice phishing” scam over the years has been busted, the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office (SPO) said Sunday.
The prosecution said its Chinese counterpart, the Ministry of Public Security, arrested the mastermind of the voice phishing syndicate, identified only by his surname Kim, and 22 other members, adding Chinese investigators are pursuing the remaining suspects.
This is the first roundup of voice phishing scammers in China after law enforcement authorities from Seoul and Beijing agreed to join forces to root out the increasingly sophisticated and lucrative criminal activity.
In January, Prosecutor General Kim Joon-gyu reached an agreement with Meng Jianzu, China’s public security minister, during his trip to the world’s second largest economy, to cooperate in cracking down on voice phishing operators.
Under the agreement, if a China-based network is suspected, South Korean investigators will seek help from the Chinese authorities in tracking down the server locations, which will speed up arrests or extradition of the culprits there.
The exposed syndicate is made up of over 100 members who operated independently from one another in an attempt to elude a police crackdown, the prosecution said.
They make random calls to dupe victims to send money to fraudulent accounts. Callers pose as police or bank officials, or sometimes demand ransom claiming they are holding a family member hostage.
The prosecution estimates that the damage from the phone fraud amounts to over 200 billion won ($180 million) over the past three years.
“In the past, we faced difficulty in clamping down on voice phishing scammers operating in China because we could not trace their Internet protocol (IP) addresses, phone numbers and bank accounts there. But now, we share information with our Chinese counterparts and operate jointly, making it much easier to apprehend voice phishing scammers,” an SPO official said.
The prosecution also said it is cooperating with Chinese investigators in chasing an individual who fled to China after stealing about 150 billion won from 20,000 victims here and 14 other swindlers.
In January 2010, the SPO established an International Cooperation Center to boost cooperation with law enforcement authorities in the United States, China and other countries, in order to more effectively cope with growing cross-border crimes.