Police transfer 66 suspects of Cambodian scams to prosecution

Korean detainees from Cambodia board a police van upon their arrival at Incheon International Airport, Oct. 18. Joint Press Corps

Police on Tuesday transferred 66 suspects to the prosecution over their alleged involvement in online scam rings in Cambodia.

The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police and the Chungnam Provincial Police separately announced the result of their investigations after respectively handling 15 and 45 of the 64 suspects repatriated from Cambodia earlier this month.

The 64 suspects were flown back under police custody following a crackdown on criminal organizations believed to be behind the abduction and detention of Koreans.

The Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police said it transferred 11 suspects to the prosecution for allegedly participating in romance scams from August 2024 until last month by posting dating advertisements on social media and tricking victims into sending them up to hundreds of millions of won.

The number of confirmed victims is 36, while the total amount of damage is 1.6 billion won ($1.1 million), the regional police agency said. The figures are expected to grow as the investigation continues.

Meanwhile, the Chungnam Provincial Police said it transferred a total of 55 suspects to the prosecution, including 45 repatriated this month, for allegedly taking part in various online and phone scams for about a year starting in the middle of last year.

The number of victims came to 110, while the amount of damage came to around 9.3 billion won, they said.