Two key suspects, including the head of voice phishing, who were based in China, were ...

Two key suspects, including the head of voice phishing, who were based in China, were arrested by police.

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency's international criminal investigation team announced on the 28th that it has arrested A (50s) in charge of voice phishing and B (50s) who produced and supplied malicious apps used in voice phishing on charges of fraud and other charges.

According to the police, A is accused of defrauding 1.5 billion won from 145 victims of voice phishing, which he/she said would trick them into lending to financial institutions while serving as the head of a voice phishing criminal organization based in Guangdong Province, China, from June 2013 to July 2015.

According to a police investigation, the organization divided its roles into domestic withdrawal plans with the call center's team leader and counselors, and received money by tricking the victims into paying credit rating upgrade fees or guarantee insurance premiums first to get loans.

B is accused of participating in fraud by producing and supplying malicious apps that include phone intercept functions to voice phishing organizations in China and other countries from May 2018 to January 2019. There are 125 victims related to B, and the amount of damage is 1 billion won.

The police initially secured the circumstances of B's participation in the crime during the investigation of those involved, including the head of voice phishing, to which B belongs, and also specified A, who is in charge of other organizations. Since then, an investigation has been conducted into the organization related to A, and from August 2021 to October 2022, 50 people have been arrested and 20 of them have been arrested.

Since then, A and B, who were staying abroad, have been red-wanted at Interpol, and in November last year, they were selected as joint arrest targets in Breaking Chains, an international cooperation operation led by the National Police Agency, and intensively tracked them through international cooperation.

As a result, the police arrested A in China in January and forcibly returned him to Korea in May. The police confirmed that B was running a company in China and working as a businessman during B's tracking process. Since then, B, who voluntarily entered the country in September, has been arrested. The police detained and sent B, who denied the crime, after proving the charges based on statements made by accomplices and others.

Breaking Chains is a joint operation on international crimes such as transnational scams and human trafficking led by the National Police Agency, where participating countries tracking clues with actual cases and seek to arrest and repatriate suspects. Since November last year, 91 people have been arrested by sharing 227 investigative clues in 116 cases.

A police official said, "Extra caution should be taken when requesting the installation of an app whose source has not been identified for reasons such as loan counseling or asking for first-in-first-out payments such as guarantee fees and fees."