The Chinese female member tricked each victim into downloading malware onto their device by telling the victims that she couldn’t hear them well during the video chat. The malware was then used to access each victim’s contacts list. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 5 (Korea Bizwire) – Police in western Seoul announced on May 4 that they had arrested scammers Kim (age 34, Chinese) and Kim (age 29, Korean), members of a financial fraud organization, who amassed more than one hundred million won through body cam phishing schemes.
Between March 8 and March 24 of last year, the group had a female Chinese organization member approach Korean males through a smartphone video chat application, induce lewd conduct, and then threatened to spread the videos if the victims refused to transfer her money.
The scheme was highly effective, and the scammers collected a total of 178,000,000 won from different 126 individuals.
The Chinese female member tricked each victim into downloading malware onto their device by telling the victims that she couldn’t hear them well during the video chat. The malware was then used to access each victim’s contacts list.
The police investigation revealed that the organization then blackmailed each victim by threatening to send the videos to all of the contacts on their smartphone.
The elder Kim, a Korean resident from China, entered Korea last March with a temporary three-month visa, and was apprehended with the younger Kim after they withdrew the proceeds of their crime from financial institutions in Gyeonggi and Ansan.
“We are currently expanding the investigation. Seeing as they were able to victimize so many individuals in a short period of only sixteen days, we believe that the crime circle must be much larger with many more individuals involved,” said a police official.
By Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)
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