Korea-Vietnam joint operation nabs phone phishing gang

By Jhoo Dong-chan

A Korea-Vietnam joint police team has arrested members of a phone phishing scam ring in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam on charges of fraud.

It was the first time police from both countries have made an arrest through a joint operation.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) officials said Sunday that they rounded up 34 people in Vietnam for allegedly swindling about 200 people out of hundreds of millions of won.

Thirty-one members of the gang were Korean, two were Vietnamese and one was Chinese.

The gang, including its leader, surnamed Kim, 32, allegedly set up a call center in Ho Chi Minh City, and stole 490 million won ($432,480) from 210 people between April and September this year.

Pretending to be police or prosecution officials, they allegedly called and induced unspecified individuals in Korea to wire money into their bank accounts under the pretext of deposit protection.

Gang members also pretended to be bank workers, claiming the money was part of taxes on low-interest loans.

The SMPA noticed the ring operating in Vietnam while investigating domestic phone phishing gangs and their fake bank accounts in April.

The court has granted arrest warrants, and Korean police asked for a joint investigation with Interpol and Vietnamese authorities.

The joint operation team raided the gang’s headquarters last month, arresting seven Koreans, including Kim.

“It was a meaningful operation because we arrested them before they could expand their criminal networks with other rings in Vietnam and China,” a police official said.

In August, police also smashed a phone phishing ring in Phuket, Thailand. Sixteen gang members, including its leader surnamed Lee, were arrested for allegedly setting up a call center there and stealing 500 million won from 39 people in Korea between July 2013 and June 2014.