The syndicate was arrested by the Korean police.
On December 3, KST, Busan’s police agency, announced that it had arrested a Korean-Chinese crime syndicate for swindling ₩122 billion KRW (about $86.3 million) from 84 different people.
The group reportedly impersonated foreign women of Korean descent on social media to lure victims into fake cryptocurrency and gold investments. Police arrested a total of 12 members of the group, including a Korean recruiter and a Chinese manager.
The syndicate recruited Korean citizens in their 20s and 30s and transferred them to Cambodia and Laos to train them in various scam techniques. These recruits then targeted people through social media by posing as foreign women of Korean descent. They would slowly build trust through conversations lasting more than a week and convince victims to invest their money in fake cryptocurrency or gold trading platforms.
These victims were then guided to fraudulent websites and forced to invest their money. According to police, the amounts deceived by each victim range from ₩1.00 million KRW (approximately $708 USD) to ₩20.0 billion KRW (approximately $14.2 million USD). When some of the victims expressed suspicions, the scammers manipulated them emotionally. If any of them asked for returns, the scammers would ask for more money for taxes and fees before disappearing with all the funds. The victims were mostly men aged between 20 and 70 and have collectively lost ₩122 billion KRW (about $86.3 million) since January.
The scam came to light after a victim reported it to the police, who launched an investigation in April this year. Since then, authorities have arrested more than 20 syndicate members. However, the six Chinese individuals identified as the masterminds behind this operation are still at large and Interpol notices have been issued against them.
