https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2026/06/16/PQSGOFIOMNDOTALQZGELSBZQUE/

A group involved in laundering criminal proceeds of a Cambodia-based voice phishing organization through domestic and international virtual asset exchanges has been caught in a large-scale police operation.

On the 16th, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s Metropolitan Investigation Unit announced that they had referred 23 suspects involved in illegally exchanging phishing crime proceeds, including romance scams, scams disguised as romantic relationships, into virtual assets, on charges including violations of the Specific Financial Information Act, and detained two of them. The group’s criminal proceeds of 650 million Korean won were subject to pre-indictictment seizure and collection preservation. The police are currently proceeding with the extradition of A, 29 years old, the mastermind of the phishing organization arrested in Cambodia last month.

According to the police, nine suspects, including B, 45 years old, a Chinese national, illegally exchanged approximately 14 billion Korean won in criminal proceeds of the Cambodia-based phishing organization through domestic and international virtual asset exchanges from February 2024 to April of the following year. In the 11,300 accounts used for money laundering, 265 cases of phishing damage were identified. The criminal proceeds they laundered flowed into accounts under the name of the mastermind’s shell company and were also used as bait funds for other phishing crimes.

There were also cases where individuals actively participated as members of romance scam crime organizations. Fourteen South Korean suspects, including C, laundered 2.8 billion Korean won earned through romance scams from September 2024 to March of last year and sent it to overseas exchanges such as Huiyuan Pay. These funds were also used for organizational operations. It was found that they had extorted a total of 4.4 billion Korean won from 79 victims at the time.

Meanwhile, the police also referred 33 unregistered currency exchangers, who illegally exchanged virtual assets for foreign tourists and acquaintances, without detention on charges including violations of the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act. A police official stated, “Acting as a proxy for others’ virtual asset transactions or exchanging virtual assets into Korean won can also be subject to punishment.”