‘Easy Money’ Promises Lure Young Koreans Into Overseas Scam Rings, Court Finds (Yonhap)
DAEGU, Oct. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — The recent killing of a South Korean college student from Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, in Cambodia has shed new light on how young Koreans are being lured overseas by criminal networks with false promises of easy money, court records show.
A Daegu District Court ruling issued in May detailed the inner workings of a Cambodia-based phone fraud syndicate that recruited Koreans through online job offers, paid their airfare, and forced them to work in scam call centers once they arrived.
The court sentenced a man in his 30s, identified only by his surname A, to four years and six months in prison for participating in the scheme. Prosecutors said A worked from a “B2B Center” call room in Phnom Penh between May and July last year, posing as an employee of K-Bank’s loan department.
Following scripted conversations, he called unsuspecting South Koreans, promising low-interest refinancing loans and persuading 20 victims to transfer a total of about 307 million won (US$223,000) to bank accounts controlled by the organization.
An online scam syndicate arrested by Cambodian police in July (Photo credit: EPA-Yonhap)
Investigators found that the syndicate’s recruiters—believed to be Chinese nationals—had been operating inside South Korea, scouting for job seekers willing to travel abroad. They provided airline tickets and expenses to entice recruits, who were then pressed into service as “consultants” in Phnom Penh-based call centers.
The scammers used personal loan data to impersonate employees of legal or collections departments at legitimate financial institutions, tricking borrowers into sending money to so-called “borrowed-name” accounts controlled by the criminal ring.
“The defendant succumbed to the lure of easy money and flew to Cambodia, where he worked as a call-center operator deceiving victims according to a prearranged script,” the presiding judge, Jeong Han-geun, said in the verdict. “With 20 victims and losses totaling more than 300 million won, the damage is severe, and the defendant has made no meaningful effort to compensate them.”
The ruling underscores the expanding reach of overseas fraud networks exploiting Korea’s youth unemployment and wage stagnation, even as the Cambodian case reignites public concern about the country’s role as a hub for transnational crime.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
