Seoul: The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) announced on Monday that 73 South Korean nationals, suspected of engaging in criminal activities such as voice phishing, have been repatriated from Cambodia and the Philippines over the last two months.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the repatriation operation, which took place from February 26 to April 22, saw 42 suspects returned from Cambodia and 31 from the Philippines. Of these, 69 individuals have been detained upon arrival in South Korea and subsequently transferred to the prosecution for further legal processing.
A significant figure among the repatriates from the Philippines is a ringleader involved in a major hacking incident in 2011. This individual was responsible for breaching the server of a capital company, stealing personal information from 1.75 million individuals, and extorting 100 million won (approximately US$68,000) from the company.
In Cambodia, authorities identified and repatriated 24 members of a criminal organization responsible for defrauding 368 individuals through voice phishing, resulting in losses amounting to 51.7 billion won. Additionally, 14 members of a "romance scam" organization were also repatriated; they were involved in extorting 2.3 billion won from 53 victims.
The KNPA emphasized that the success of this repatriation operation was largely due to strong cooperative relationships with police forces in Cambodia and the Philippines, enabling swift action against these criminal elements.