Two Men in Their 20s Get Heavy Sentences for Role in 1.1 Billion-Won Phishing Using Spoofed "010" Numbers

Sentenced to 10 years and 9 years, 6 months in prison; prosecutors had sought 5 years
Court: "Their involvement was more serious than that of simple cash couriers"

Two men in their 20s who took part in phishing crimes totaling 1.1 billion won by installing relay devices that changed caller IDs to 010 numbers were sentenced to hefty prison terms at their first trial, each receiving nearly twice the term sought by prosecutors.

Seoul Southern District Court. Reporter Lee Jiye.

On October 14, Go Soyoung, a judge at the Seoul Southern District Court, sentenced Park, 21, who had been indicted while in custody on charges including violating the Act on the Refund of Losses from Telecommunications-based Financial Fraud, to 10 years in prison, and Paeng, 20, to nine years and six months. The judge also ordered Park to pay 37.29 million won and Paeng 22.44 million won in additional collections.

Park and the others were indicted for allegedly taking part in phishing crimes that defrauded 39 victims of approximately 1.1 billion won. From October last year through May this year, they installed and operated caller ID spoofing relay devices at motels across the country, making calls appear to come from domestic 010 numbers.

Investigators found that Park and the others followed instructions from an overseas phishing organization via Telegram and WeChat, moving between motels around the country every week to operate the relay devices. They used 136 burner phones and 395 SIM cards delivered from overseas by courier to manipulate internet calls so that the caller IDs appeared as domestic 010 numbers. Park was also found to have aided a separate fraud by transferring 20 million won sent by a victim to another account, in exchange for 0.5% of the amount transferred from a member of the phishing organization.

Judge Go said, "Organized telecommunications-based financial fraud not only causes irreparable harm to an unspecified number of victims but also has serious adverse effects on society." The judge added, "The defendants took on the role of operating and managing relay devices that spoofed caller IDs in exchange for payment, making their involvement far more serious than that of simple cash couriers. Given the reprehensible nature of the offenses, harsher punishment is unavoidable." The judge also noted, "The scale of the harm is substantial, with approximately 40 victims and losses exceeding 1 billion won," and said that the defendants "made no effort to compensate the victims and had not received their forgiveness."

However, the judge found Paeng not guilty of the charge of violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act in relation to providing a cryptocurrency wallet address, ruling that such an address does not constitute account-related information under the Act. Paeng was found guilty of receiving account information from an illegal SIM card seller.

The victims' applications for compensation orders were dismissed due to issues including the limitation of liability for joint torts. At the final hearing last month, prosecutors had sought five years in prison for each of Park and Paeng.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.