Men arrested for activating 1,000 mobile phones using ID-theft

By Ko Dong-hwan

The police arrested a group of men for embezzlement for the illegal activation of over 1,000 mobile phones.

Iksan Police Station in North Jeolla Province announced on July 11 that they arrested three men, including a Park, 44, for coaxing 966 people into subscribing mobile phones and snatching their device fees and sales support funds.

The police also booked without detention ten men, including a Seo, 36, for colluding with Park.

Park first sent his targets mobile messages promoting loan service. He added a condition that mobile phone activation is required should they choose to use the service, ensuring them that it is only a perfunctory procedure requiring no extra payments.

Park then acquired identification information and certificate of their seal impression from those who agreed to the condition. This allowed him to activate 1,024 different mobile phones and subsequently request telecommunication service providers for sales support funds worth 1.5 billion won.

Park grabbed an additional 1 billion won by selling the mobile phones to dealers, each profiting him from 600,000 to 700,000 won.

Victims of Park claimed to the police that they received warnings from the telecommunication service providers regarding unpaid fees worth three to four million won that they were completely unaware of.

Police tracked down distribution channels of the stolen mobile phones from the dealer shops in Iksan and succeeded in nabbing Park.

Police searched Park’s bank account transaction records for the past two years which have been confirmed to have transactions of 7.4 billion won.