Voice phishing kingpins arrested while entering Korea from China

The heads of two criminal organizations that carry out voice phishing scams against Koreans were recently arrested upon their entry into the country, according to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Wednesday.

The inside of an office space used by one of the China-based voice phishing groups whose chief was arrested by Korean authorities on Wednesday. [NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE]

The heads of two criminal organizations that carry out voice phishing scams against Koreans were recently arrested upon their entry into the country, according to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on Wednesday.

The NIS said the pair, who were only identified by their surnames Li and Choi, oversee two China-based criminal organizations whose members impersonated financial institutions or government agencies to extort payments from Koreans over the phone.

Li was described by the NIS as a Chinese national in his 30s, while Choi is a Korean national in his 30s.

Their arrests came as a result of a joint investigation by police and prosecutors, according to the NIS.

The spy agency said callers from the two criminal groups posed either as officials from the Korean Financial Supervisory Service and threatened their victims with criminal prosecution unless they paid money, or as employees of major banks offering low-interest loans.

According to the NIS, the two organizations collectively stole approximately 1.4 billion won ($1 million) from their victims.

The spy agency said it succeeded in tracking the groups' payment routes in March and also obtained recordings of the callers’ voices and the fake warrants they used to threaten their victims.

Li and Choi are among 201 people arrested on suspicion of involvement in voice phishing scams since a joint investigation team established in July 2022 began a crackdown.

The team, comprised of 50 officials from seven government agencies, including the state prosecution service, police, Korea Customs Service and Korea Communications Commission, has detained 628 people for questioning over the past two years and arrested 201 people, according to officials.

Among the 201 suspects arrested thus far, 53 have been accused of supplying voice phishing groups with devices necessary to prevent authorities from tracking them, including repeaters, wireless routers and single-use SIM cards.

Another 44 members were arrested for helping set up the SIM cards and fake bank accounts.

According to the officials on Wednesday, the ongoing crackdown by the joint investigative team helped reduce damages resulting from voice phishing scams by almost 42 percent, from 774.4 billion won in 2021 to 447.2 billion won last year.

However, the joint investigative team called for more robust measures to deter the crime, noting that the total amount stolen from victims had already reached 324.2 billion won in the first half of this year.

“Tactics used by the criminals have become sophisticated, and the methods they use to carry out phishing scams are also rapidly diversifying,” the investigative team said.

New scam methods mentioned by the team include stock and cryptocurrency investment group chats and forums and dating scams.

The unit said it plans to carry out operations for at least another year.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]