Arresting criminals using messenger phishing and 'bank account intimidation methods'

2022.11.10 Garam Lee

Police have arrested a group of people who conspired with overseas voice phishing organizations to defraud about 2 billion won from 320 victims by making "bank account threats."

Bank account intimidation is a form of crime in which the damage from phishing crimes is partially remitted to a specific person, causing the account to be suspended, and then asking for a settlement to be lifted.

This time, the captured criminals used a clever method of committing two phishing crimes.

First crime, the first is to impersonate a family member and send a problem message and malicious application to the victim's parents saying that the cell phone screen is broken to hack into the cell phone. After that, the victim's bank account information is used to defraud the victim.

The second crime was extorted by transferring some of the damages from the previous crime to the other people’s accounts to become suspended accounts and demanding settlement money. When transferring part of the damage, they wrote their Telegram ID in the sender's name to induce contact. This is a crime that takes advantage of the fact that if phishing victims report to banks or police, their accounts will be suspended. The bank account threatening organization extorted about 800 million won by threatening, "I will release the suspension of payment, so give me the settlement money." 

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency's metropolitan investigation team arrested A(53) and 25 people on charges of computer fraud and violation of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, and 15 people without detention, including B (19), a recruitment plan for fake bank accounts.

A police official said, "We will do our best to arrest the general manager and members of overseas crime groups," and cautioned, "If you receive a text message from an unknown number, call them yourself and never press URLs or files sent by strangers."

*Article/Photo

- https://www.ytn.co.kr/_ln/0103_202211101519357491

- https://imnews.imbc.com/news/2022/society/article/6425611_35673.html

- https://newsis.com/view/?id=NISX20221110_0002080867&cID=10802&pID=14000

- https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20221110070200065?input=1195m

 

*Animation

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