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The story of 'that day' in history, which we should not forget, is told by Jang Hyun-seong, Jang Seong-gyu, and Jang Do-yeon of 'Jang Trio' (hereinafter referred to as 'Kkokomu').

For those who missed the main broadcast, or for those who watched the broadcast but want to chew on the contents again, SBS Entertainment News organizes it in one room.

The story of 'that day' that I want to tell 'you' this time is the 'Voice That Kills People - From: Team Leader Kim Mi-young'



, which aired on the 22nd

.

Actor Son Ho- jun

, Kong Seung-yeon, and singer Car the Garden appeared as story friends

. This is Cheonan, Chungcheongnam-do.

29-year-old Ahn Jeong-yeop found 'her' by looking around her on a street.

Her Mr. Jeong-yeop had never seen her before, but he recognized her at first sight among her countless people.

It's because of her pale expression, like a distraught person.

Mr. Jeong-yeop approached and spoke to her.

"I'm the one who reported it, right?"






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Yes, Jeong-yeop is a third-year police officer.

During one of her patrols, I received a radio call saying 'her crime has been reported, go to the scene' and I met her informant and her victim.

She said she got goosebumps when she got a call from her stranger.

The man over the phone who introduced himself as a 'prosecution investigator' said this in a high-pressure voice.



"Thank you for your hard work. I am an investigator from the Seoul District Prosecutor's Office's High-tech Crime Investigation Team. I'm contacting you to confirm a few facts about an identity theft case related to you. A bankbook in your name came out at the crime scene. Hundreds of people have watched. I need to check if the money in my account is also criminal proceeds, so transfer it to the national security account right away."



that's right.

It was a voice phishing call.

She said she was too scared to panic.

Before I could come to my senses properly, I sent the money to the account the man called me.

The amount of money transferred was 130 million won.

Police Officer Ahn was surprised to hear her amount.

She was 29 years old, her baby and her same age.

How did she save so much money when she was in her first year in society?


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“He grew up in an orphanage, and he said he had a goal of having a house if I wanted to have a happy family. So, I started working in a factory when I was 19, and he said, ‘I don’t eat what I want to eat or buy what I want to buy.’ It was shocking to do."


-Ahn Jeong-yeop, her police officer at the time, the



word 'her family' was not in her life, but the money she collected and collected while dreaming of it.

All that bloody wealth was gone in one phone call.

"Can I get my money?" she asked Policewoman Ahn, crying with her pale face.

Looking at her desperate eyes, police officer Ahn comforted her by saying, "You know that our country's police force is the best in the world? Don't worry."

Policewoman Ahn, who until then had no experience in investigating properly, thought she could catch her, of course.

She knows the phone number used in the crime and has the account number.

So she filed a damage report with the police box, and she transferred the case to the police station.



Soon after, she met her senior in charge of this case at a drinking party, Ahn Soon-kyung, and she asked if she had caught the voice phishing culprit.

The senior told Ahn, “Voice phishing is a crime that cannot be caught.”

She didn't understand the cop she didn't understand.

She said that she had a phone number and an account number, but why can't I get this?

She even cried when her earnest eyes came to mind.



Soon after, a friend of hers came to the police box.

She says she wants to report her missing and says she can't be reached.

At that time, police officer Ahn felt that 'something is wrong'.

She was eventually found with a cold body.

You made an extreme choice for yourself.

Police Officer Ahn was angry and sad, but at the same time he felt scared.


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"I felt that voice phishing is really scary. It doesn't just take money, it's economic murder. It can even take people's lives."


-Ahn Jeong-yeop, police officer at the time



▲ A man who devoted everything to apprehend voice phishing criminals



Soon after, police officer Ahn applied for the Intelligence Crime Investigation Team.

She promised her in her heart that she would catch her voice-fisher.

Police Officer Ahn, who moved the team, investigated like crazy.

When he was suspected of being a voice phishing criminal, he recklessly followed him for days, and he couldn't even go home for two months.

He's done all the research he can do with the voice phishing incident.

Two months passed like that, but police officer Ahn couldn't catch a single voice phishing criminal.

When he runs after being reported, it's only after he's already taken the money out of the bank and gone.

He uses a cannon bankbook, so tracking is impossible.

The number of victims keeps increasing and they are helpless.

Only then did police officer Ahn realize.

He was right when he said, “Voice phishing is a crime that cannot be caught.”



That day too, police officer Ahn was fooling around all day.

After he got off work late at night, he was watching TV and saw the eye-opening news.

It was news that he arrested a voice phishing criminal at a police station in Seoul.

'We couldn't catch it, but how did we catch that one?'

Thinking of doing it, police officer Ahn went to the police station that appeared on the news and asked how to arrest him.


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Police officer Ahn earnestly asked, and the Seoul detective gave him the know-how of the arrest.

I can't specifically explain how.

It's an investigative technique that's still used today, so you shouldn't be exposed to criminals.

The know-how gained in this way has been very effective.

Constable Ahn immediately caught the man suspected of withdrawing money and targeted him when he withdrew money from the ATM machine.

The man changed his card and drew money for 30 minutes.

Looking around, more men gathered around him.

These are cash withdrawal organizations that circulate through banks and withdraw money.

Constable Ahn and his detectives ran over them and arrested them for fraud.

It was the first arrest of police officer Ahn.

A whopping 87 million won was confiscated on the spot.



"When I called the victim saying that the damage was returned, the victim said thank you, but it was really rewarding. I think I felt all kinds of joy, reward, and pride that I hadn't felt while working as a police officer."


-Police



Ahn Jeong-yeop After that, police officer Ahn worked overtime every day, but it wasn't hard at all.

He kept catching voice phishing criminals.

Police Officer Ahn, who was a newbie, has grown into a veteran detective.



However, I am still thirsty.

Voice phishing damage does not decrease.

The center that actually leads the voice phishing crime is overseas, but I can't catch them, and I feel skeptical because I only arrested low-level gang members who only run errands in Korea.

So Detective Ahn set a new goal.

To catch the 'merchant ship'.

Of course, it's not easy.

The base of voice phishing is overseas, and domestic withdrawal books do not even know who the merchant ship is or where it is located.

Still, if you earnestly wish for it, it will come true. One day, an opportunity came to detective Ahn.



▲ There is a 'merchant ship' among them



.

I was driving at 180km/h on a snowy highway, and the group of withdrawal books ahead threw something out of the car window.

Detective Ahn succeeded in apprehending them after a relentless pursuit, and then, tracing the snowy highway, he found what they had abandoned.

If you threw it away while running away, it must be an important item.

Soon after I started looking around the shoulder of the highway, I noticed something shiny in the distance.


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What they threw away were dozens of check cards and bankbooks.

It was used to withdraw money from victims.

However, a really important clue, an account number, was found in this bundle of bankbooks.

It was an account into which the withdrawn damage amount flowed.

The owner of this account was an illegal moneychanger.



If the proceeds of crime are received directly from abroad, the transaction history remains, so the voice phishing organization received the money through money laundering through illegal currency exchangers.

After finding out the account number of the illegal money changer, Detective Ahn decided to do something 'crazy'.

They froze the accounts of people who received money from this illegal money changer.

It was a whopping 189 accounts.


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When the account was suspended in this way, complaint calls were pouring in to the police station.

People who used illegal currency exchangers to save on currency exchange costs, such as international students and overseas operators, made a fuss to release their accounts because they couldn't find the money.

Detective Ahn told them that it was true that they had exchanged money illegally, so if you feel unfair, go to the police station and ask for an investigation.

That's how I investigated every single detective, but most of them didn't seem to have anything to do with voice phishing.

Except for three people.



One of the three is Mr. Zhang, who trades used cars in and out of China.

Mr. Zhang said that his employees' salary accounts were tied up and he was unable to spend their salaries, so he asked for the accounts to be released.

The second is Mr. Park, who runs a travel agency with his brother in the Philippines after his retirement.

He says he'll help you catch voice phishing with a gentle voice.

The third is Kim, who runs a sauna in China.

He took on a sound business with over 200 million jobs.



Detective Ahn told Mr. Kim to come to Korea and directly investigate.

When I checked Kim's personal relationship, he was listed as a 'gangster'.

Mr. Kim was willing to come for an investigation, and he actually showed up at the police station.

Mr. Kim, who was investigated without hesitation in front of the detective, said that he admits to illegal currency exchange and that he will be punished if he is prosecuted.

However, he insisted that he had nothing to do with voice phishing.


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Including Mr. Kim, Mr. Jang, and Mr. Park, all three of them submitted their explanatory documents perfectly to the police.

On paper, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Detective Ahn is in trouble again.

Among these 189 people, there must be a voice phishing criminal, so how should we track them down?



▲ The founder of a huge voice phishing organization, his reversal past



, and after a while, Detective Ahn received a phone call.

It was Mr. Jang, a used car trader.



"Detective, do you remember me? If you meet me now, I will tell you something very important."



Detective Ahn went straight to see Mr. Jang.

Jang showed up wearing sunglasses on a cloudy day.

Up close, his face is covered in bruises.

Mr. Zhang asked to be assured of his safety, and he brought out an unbelievable story.

Mr. Jang asked to release the suspended account because he had to pay the employee's salary.

It turns out that the employees are all members of the voice phishing gang.



Mr. Jang met them in Qingdao in 2012, about a year ago.

He was introduced to people who do business in China, and he said that he made a relationship because he wanted to be able to receive investment.

One day they asked Mr. Zhang for help.

Since their account was misunderstood as a criminal account and payment was suspended, he asked if he could help me to call the police.

Mr. Jang said he helped open the account with a good heart.

After that, Mr. Jang became friends with them rapidly, and accidentally found out that their identity was a voice phishing organization.



Mr. Jang hid that he had noticed, and secretly collected their information.

But one day, Mr. Jang was drunk and accidentally said that he knew his identity.

At Jang's words, their eyes changed completely, and they beat Jang, warning them to be quiet.

Mr. Jang called Detective Ahn after returning home that way.

Mr. Jang showed the identities of the people he identified through pictures.


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This is the organization chart of the voice phishing gang.

Is it the same as a normal corporate organization?

At the bottom is the team members who talk to the victim at the call center, but at times there are more than 200 people.

And the team leader who manages those people, and on top of that, there is a group of presidents like group affiliates.

And at the top there's the boss, the gunman.


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This is what a voice phishing call center actually looks like.

It's the inside of a call center disguised as a furniture factory, but it looks like a regular company.

What's even more surprising is the identity of the leader and director of this huge organization.

Mr. Kim, a former gangster, was the leader.

He came to the police station on his own and said he didn't know about voice phishing.

Not usually strong-hearted.



“I started the investigation because of voice phishing, and what I thought was the final goal was right in front of my eyes. It wasn’t just a thrill, it was excitement itself. The fact that he was identified..."


-Detective Ahn Jung-yeop



This is not the end.

Mr. Park, who runs a travel agency with his younger brother.

Looking at it, this person is also involved in voice phishing.

Park's true identity is even more surprising.

As it turned out, Mr. Park was the founder of this huge voice phishing organization, Chairman Park.

After investigation, Chairman Lee Park is not an ordinary person.

Among the members of this organization, there is a legend about Chairman Park.


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It was 2010 when Chairman Park appeared in Qingdao, China.

At that time, the scenery of the voice phishing call center was similar to the scene of 'Yellow Sea', a corner where comedians Jung Chan-min and Lee Su-ji did in the old 'Gag Concert'.

At that time, most of the people who made voice phishing calls were Chinese compatriots, had a distinctive accent, and the techniques were primitive and lax.

So it's not easy to fool the other person.

Chairman Park tried three changes to better deceive people.



First, change your voice.

President Park brought in call center staff from Korea and selected voices that speak standard language and are trustworthy.

Second, I changed the voice phishing item.

And he sent these text messages to hook his victims.


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"This is Kim Mi-young, the team leader. Customers can deposit up to 30 million won in bank account within 30 minutes at the lowest interest rate.



"

The symbol of voice phishing, 'Team Leader Kim Mi-young', is Chairman Park's creation.

The new item Park developed was loan fraud.



Chairman Park's third change was to change the recipient.

Secondary financial institutions, such as savings banks, bought lists of people whose loans were turned down, and targeted these people who were already in debt or had low credit ratings.

How successful were Park’s tactics?


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"The people who want to take out loans don't have money, but they extort money from them. It's a real change of thinking. They opened a new chapter by creating a loan fraud type voice phishing. Accomplices say 'the renaissance of voice phishing has come' I did."


-Detective Ahn Jung-yeop



How was it actually possible to scam people without money?

The secret was in the 'details'.

Chairman Park made a voice phishing script, aka 'mention paper'.


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Chairman Park wrote the script himself, and a former banker supervised it.

In the script, the lines for loans are written in jargon used by banks, and even detailed comments for each situation in case the other party suspects it.

It is an elaborate scenario created through repeated research on how to trick the other party into extracting money.

Chairman Park, what the heck are you doing?

Did you prepare this meticulously?

This is a past picture of Chairman Park.


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I'm wearing a police uniform.

Chairman Park turns out to be a former police officer.

It was also part of the Cybercrime Investigation Unit.

He was a police officer investigating voice phishing criminals.



▲ A vicious trick aimed at the hopes of struggling people



How do these guys catch victims?

In fact, 'Kokomu' met the person who was at the call center of Mr. Park's organization.


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“I start work at 8:00 in the morning. They say Korea is an hour late. The Korean financial sector starts at 9:00. From 9:00 to 4:00, the market closes at 4:00. We keep talking on the phone."


- Voice phishing call center informant When call



center employees, who start working the same way as the actual bank operating hours, sit in front of the phone, they immediately hand out a database containing the phone numbers and personal information of people to call today.

It contains all information such as occupation, loan history, desired loan amount, reason for refusal, bad credit, exceeding the loan limit, and personal rehabilitation history.

When the target tried to borrow from the bank, how much they wanted and were turned down, that's all.


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Based on this information, a phone call is made to the victim.

After introducing himself, "I'm Assistant Manager Jang at XX Bank," I asked how many days I wanted a loan from a bank for a few days, but didn't get rejected.

It is so accurate that the victim believes that the person on the phone is a bank teller.

And at this time, say, "I've been looking and I'm calling because I think you might be able to get a loan."

A little suspicious, but the tempting offer of a loan can't stop a victim who needs money.



Send the requested documents to the fax number you provided.

At the words of Jang, "You can get the 10 million won you want as early as today," the victim's hope springs up.

Assistant manager Jang is like an angel who appeared in a moment of crisis.

At this very moment, he added a word.

"Your credit rating is very low. To get a loan, you need a guarantee. The cost of signing up for guarantee insurance is about 130,000 won. Is that possible?"

They say they lend you 10 million won, but is 130,000 won a lot?

So send that 130,000 won right away.

That's the first start of voice phishing damage.



After a while, another person calls.

This time, Kim Mi-young, the team leader of the XX Bank payment team.

I got the paperwork, but they hung up saying they couldn't give me a loan because my credit score was too low.

It's a high level psychological warfare.

You're deliberately 'pushing'.



call again

This time, it's Jang's assistant phishing criminal.

Deputy Jang said that originally, the loan is not possible, but there is a way, and that it is possible if you pay 2 million won in interest for 6 months in advance.

When the word 2 million won was burdensome, Assistant Manager Jang was very sorry and said that he would give half of 1 million won at his own expense.

How grateful I am for such a manager.

A loan of 10 million won is in front of the nose, but the victim waits for the loan to come in after sending 1 million won.



Another call comes in.

This time, he is Jang's agent, and the victim mentioned the past loan history and said that the Financial Supervisory Service said that the loan was impossible because the loan limit was exceeded.

He wants to give me a loan, but it's too bad, and if I don't solve this, he scolds me that the loan will never come out.

If the victim asks how to solve it, the amount increases from there.

At this time, Assistant Manager Jang held out a carrot again.

To get the loan, he said he would need to pretend to have income to pay off the debt.

They will do it themselves, so ask them to send 3 million won for the work.

As the amount increases, the victim becomes anxious.

I have something to say at this time.

"I'll return all of this money when I get a loan," he said.



If you check the bank's website, there is actually Jang's name, so the victim will believe it more.

Of course.

Because the phishing criminal stole a real name.

In that way, the victim somehow collected money from his surroundings and made and spent 3 million won.

And another call comes.

This time it's the Financial Supervisory Service.

An employee of the Financial Supervisory Service said that he did not know that it was illegal to get a loan by manipulating documents, and that he tried to take out an illegal loan, so he had to pay a fine of 7 million won.

The customer said 4 million won, and the bank that gave the illegal loan 3 million won.

And there was no loan.

The victim, who thought he was involved in an illegal loan, somehow collected money from the surroundings and sent 4 million won.


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Deputy Assistant Manager Jang, Team Leader Kim Mi-Young, and even an employee of the Financial Supervisory Service.

They are all voice phishers.

The three of them put their heads together to extort more money from each victim.

At the end of the operation meeting, the FSS staff called the victim again.

Say, "It's an absolutely impossible loan, but I'll give you a loan by looking at Assistant Manager Jang's face."

At this point, the victim thinks of Jang as a community of destiny.

After talking on the phone several times, I became friendly with Assistant Manager Jang.



"At some point, you become a family. You become a 'teacher', then a 'customer', then later you become close, right? Then you say 'mom'. 'I did this, but why didn't I get any money?'

When I do, I say something like, 'Mom, try harder. I'm doing this to help her mom, not to please her.'"


- Voice phishing call center informant



.

Illegal inquiry records must be deleted, computer processing costs are high, and so on.

They even say that the loan was canceled because the process took a long time, and they start the process all over again from the beginning.

At some point, the money sent exceeds the loan hoped-for amount.

There is also a person who sent 50 million won while trying to get a loan of 10 million won.

Yoon Ji-eun (pseudonym), a 50-year-old single mother at the time, is also one of the victims.



“Send and send again. I will send the loan money as soon as I send it. I think I made hundreds of phone calls in 5-6 days. I think I fell more into that idea with the thought that I should receive it. Now I borrow it from this person without any choice. I even canceled my son's insurance and poured it all in one bite."


-Yoon Ji-eun (pseudonym).

At the time, a 50-year-old single mother suffered 30 million won in loan fraud and voice phishing



. It's not over yet.

At some point, I feel it, but when I think that there is nothing more to come out of the victim, I go to the last task.

Manager Jang calls again.

Even if the victim cries and begs, he doesn't blink an eye.

"It's all over now. Just send another 100,000 won," he said, sucking the last drop of blood.

Only then do the victims realize it's a scam.


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"I thought a lot about wanting to die. If I fall here and die... If I think about that, it's because I'm a single mother. If I die, I worry about my children, and I couldn't take action because of them. It was very difficult. You know that. It's not just about losing money. People I became such a complete fool. I lost my trust. So it takes a lot of time to recover.”


-Yoon Ji-eun (pseudonym).

At the time, a 50-year-old single mother suffered 30 million won in voice phishing loan fraud.



This voice phishing organization made huge profits.

He said he made about 4 billion won in a week.

Back then, there were a lot of people who cheated and a lot of people who sent money, but they said they couldn't get all the money because they didn't have enough bankbooks.

The presidents of the organization wore luxury goods from head to toe and lived a luxurious life by visiting entertainment districts every weekend.



▲ 10 years of tracking, 10 years of keeping



promises

But this organization is based in China.

Detective Ahn asked for cooperation with the public security.

The answer that came after three months was 'no cooperation'.

Then there is only one option.

It should be arrested in the country.

When as many of them as possible came to Korea.


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The target date is Chuseok.

Upon investigation, it turned out that a lot of members of this organization came to Korea on New Year's Day last year.

Detective Ahn, who thought that a lot of people would come in during this Chuseok holiday, monitored the immigration status of the gang 24 hours a day.



Finally, an organizer came in.

And then, one by one, the two continue to enter the country.

But the gun hasn't come in yet.

The most important thing is the chief, so I set the time when the chief was in, and when the most presidents and team leaders were in, as the D-day and waited.



The number of members entering the country gradually increased, and the number of people entering the country exceeded 20.

The moment I was anxious waiting for the leader, Mr. Kim, the leader, finally set foot on Korean soil.

But Chairman Park is yet to enter the country.

Just then, a boss-level member of the 6th rank entered Korea and left for China again within a few hours.

"Huh? Did any information leak out?"

I wanted to

I can't wait any longer.

Those who came in might come out again.

I was immediately banned from leaving the country.



A total of 28 men entered the siege.

After the arrest of the chief, a plan was made to arrest the rest of the gang members, and all police personnel were mobilized after giving up the holidays.

I identified the vehicle used by the gang members, and found the vehicle of Mr. Kim, the general manager, and secretly tracked it.

The gunman's car pulled into a residential area, and the operation began.

Detectives moved closely and pretended to park, blocking the entrance to both sides of the alley and blocking the escape route.

The moment Mr. Kim got out of the car, Detective Ahn approached him.

And he clapped, handcuffed.


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At the same time as the arrest of the No. 1 leader, the rest of the gang members were arrested at the same time.

There were 44 people in total.

543 victims were harmed by them.

This is the first time in Korea that such a large-scale overseas voice phishing organization was wiped out and the chief executive was caught.



But still, we haven't caught the leader above the leader, Chairman Park.

Mr. Park has been placed on an Interpol red notice.

It's the most powerful measure of Interpol's wanted phase.

Mr. Park was being chased around the world, but as his number of deaths narrowed, he disappeared.

In 2021, after 8 years, information was finally obtained saying that Mr. Park was sighted.

It was a rural village 400 km from Manila in the Philippines.

Park was living a quiet reclusive life, using two pseudonyms of his own.



Shortly thereafter, the Philippine Immigration Service and armed police arrived.

On October 4, 2021, the Philippines finally arrested Mr. Park.


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It's been 10 years since I started chasing that voice over the receiver.

What was Detective Ahn thinking?

Detective Ahn said he remembered that person.

She bet her the same age she met when she was a first-year-old cop.

Every time she felt like giving up for the past 10 years, she remembered those eyes she looked at eagerly.



"When I do it, what should I say... There are cases of burnout. There are times when there is a slump, and there are times when I do not want to work. I think of him often. I think of him often. In my situation, I would have caught it. If I said I caught it quickly, he wouldn't have thought differently."


- Detective Ahn Jung-yeop: Chief



Kim, who was arrested in 2013, was sentenced to 9 years in prison, and president-level gang members were sentenced to 5-6 years in prison.

Mr. Park, who was arrested in 2021, has not yet been punished.

Because, even now he is detained in the detention center of the Philippine Immigration Service.

The investigation into the other cases involved in the field has not been completed, so it is still a situation where they have not been extradited.

Trial and punishment are possible only when repatriation takes place.



Mr. Park has been arrested, but his voice phishing methods are evolving.

New methods abound.

Will the day come when voice phishing disappears?

Detective Ahn believes that that day will come.


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“If I had to sum up my life in my 30s in one word, it would be ‘voice phishing.’ I was lucky enough to arrest a large organization, and voice phishing and I have become inseparable. Until then, I will continue to investigate."


- Lieutenant Ahn Jung-yeop, Anti-Corruption Economic Crime Investigation Unit



Voice phishing is no longer an impossible crime.

It is a crime that must be caught now.

Still, we need to be careful not to fall for voice phishing.



Voice phishing doesn't end with financial damage.

The pain experienced by the desperate victims, the despair felt while crossing between hope and fear, and the wounds in the heart are enormous.

And other crimes usually comfort and cover the victims, but voice phishing victims tend to criticize, saying, "Do you do that like an idiot?"

I need to look back to see if I didn't.


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What do you think of 'today' after hearing the story of 'that day'?




(Reporter Kang Seon-ae of SBS Entertainment News)