Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency. Provided by Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency.
A group of individuals who deceived investors by claiming that investing in Bitcoin mining could yield high profits were caught after making such a call to a detective.
The Detective Squad of the Special Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency announced on the 6th that they arrested 16 members of the organization, including the leader identified as Mr. A, on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes, and formation of a criminal organization. Nine of them were detained and sent for prosecution, while 31 distributors who supplied them with foreign-registered burner SIM cards were also arrested, with four being detained.
Mr. A and his group are accused of setting up a call center office in the Seoul Metropolitan area from October 2023 to May, luring 50 victims into investing in a supposed high-profit Bitcoin mining machine rental business, defrauding them of a total of approximately 2.3 billion won.
The group, consisting of alumni seniors and juniors, arranged an office, burner phones, fake accounts, and personal information databases, dividing roles as leaders, team leaders, and consultants to commit the fraud.
They called phone numbers listed in the personal information database, deceiving victims by claiming they could achieve high profits by renting Bitcoin mining machines.
To make victims trust them, they sent them small daily profits labeled as “free trial earnings” for 3 to 4 days, and when urging for serious investment, they reassured victims by sending forged loss compensation certificates and fake IDs, claiming to compensate for any losses from stock investments or fees from joining stock-leading companies.
Their scheme unraveled when they called a detective from the Detective Squad of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency. The detective received the call, immediately sensed the investment fraud, launched an investigation, and gathered evidence.
Within a month, the police identified the call center office of the scam organization and urgently arrested the members. They analyzed confiscated items and, after a four-month investigation, arrested a total of 16 individuals.
The police also discovered that the SIM cards used in the crimes were registered under foreigners’ names through a burner SIM distribution network, leading to the arrest of 31 related suspects.
Additionally, 33 operators of a DB collection and distribution call center office, who collected personal information from random calls and distributed it for about 10,000 won per entry, were sent for prosecution without detention.
A police official stated, “We plan to expand the investigation, assuming there may be more investment fraud organizations and illegally distributing personal information perpetrators.”