Twenty-seven Korean members of a voice phishing organization based in Pattaya, Thailand ...

Twenty-seven Korean members of a voice phishing organization based in Pattaya, Thailand, have been arrested and charged with stealing 15.1 billion won from 705 domestic victims. First, 21 members who were handed over to trial were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison.

The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office announced on the 10th that it has arrested and indicted six Korean members of the voice phishing crime group "Lunger Company" in Pattaya, Thailand, from last month to this month. The prosecution arrested and prosecuted 21 members from September to October last year.

According to the prosecution, Lunger Company is accused of stealing a total of 15.93 billion won from 705 domestic victims from January to July last year for romance scams, impersonation of investigative agencies, and virtual asset investment fraud.

They divided the organization according to the type of crime. The Romance Scam organization disguised itself as a woman and approached the victim, then extorted money by demanding fees for exchanging virtual assets. They also staged a so-called "no-show fraud" in which they impersonated an investigative agency to induce remittances, saying they should check whether they are involved in crimes, or to impersonate soldiers and ask stores to purchase goods on behalf of them.

The organization was operated in a structure in which the head of the Chinese general and the head of the headquarters led the crime and Korean members executed actual fraud. Chinese executives enticed them through recruitment measures that they could make a lot of money by living in luxury villas if they worked as voice phishing call centers in Thailand. Afterwards, it was investigated that they took away the passports of Koreans who arrived there and participated in the crime.

In particular, the crime did not stop even after a large number of members were arrested. In June last year, Thai police raided the Pulvilla office in Pattaya and arrested 21 members, but Chinese executives who fled recruited new Korean members and rebuilt the crime office in just 10 days.

It was found that Chinese executives were able to quickly rebuild the organization because they had secured personal information of victims, fraud scripts, and supply chains for cannon accounts.

Investigation authorities in Korea and Thailand raided additional offices disguised as rental car companies in August last year. Afterwards, the fugitive members were arrested sequentially and a total of 32 Korean members were captured. Of these, 27 were arrested and charged, four were transferred to the competent prosecutor's office, and one has not yet been repatriated to Korea.

Twenty-one Korean members who were first indicted were sentenced to five and a half years in prison to 13 years. Of these, 15 were sentenced, and the rest are under appeal. The six people who were recently additionally charged were returned to Korea after serving a year in Thailand.

Two of the four executives, including the Chinese chief and head of the headquarters, are serving time in Thailand, while the other two have yet to be arrested. Prosecutors plan to seek extradition of Chinese executives serving time in Thailand and continue to track down members of the US prosecution.