<Anchor>



There has been an increasing number of fraudulent crimes recently, inviting several people to the KakaoTalk chat room and then tricking them into making big money by investing in them.

However, as a result of the police investigation, there was a gang that specialized in creating chat rooms used for crimes.



Correspondent Shin Yong-sik reported exclusively.



<Reporter>



In April of last year, Mr. A, a self-employed person in his 60s, was invited to a KakaoTalk chat room.



The words of the invitee, "I will call you money through investment."



At first, I was skeptical, but as the conversation that he made money came and went, Mr. A started to believe it too.


Enlarging an image


[Mr A/Victim: I came to believe because the people there (Kakao Talk chat room) experienced, earned, and captured what they earned and showed that (money) came into their account like this.] Several



times, a total of 6,000 Mr. A, who deposited 5 million won, eventually lost all of this money.



The police, who launched an investigation, discovered something new while tracking down an investment fraud group.



We caught the situation where the scammers bought the KakaoTalk chat room used in the crime from someone.



After one year and five months, the police, who conducted account and IP tracking and undercover investigation, caught 17 people per day who sold KakaoTalk chat rooms using cannon phones.



It turns out that they have been providing some sort of 'criminal service' to help the investment scammers commit crimes.



After creating a KakaoTalk account with a prepaid SIM chip that is difficult to track, he created a chat room to be used in the crime with the account and gave it to an investment fraud group for 80,000 won per room.



The prepaid SIM chip and KakaoTalk account used in the crime alone amounted to about 38,000 each, and the criminal proceeds amounted to 3.7 billion won.



The police only applied the charge of 'fraud aiding' against this gang and sent it to the prosecution.



This is because there are no other penalties applicable to them under the current law.



[Jang Yun-mi / Attorney specializing in criminal law: The reality is that only the crime of aiding fraud can be punished due to lack of legislation, but effective punishment seems difficult because aiding aggressor is a cause for mitigation.



] He said that there is a limit to preventing even crimes using cannon phones.



A gang of cannon bankbook sellers who steal criminal proceeds were also arrested.



It was investigated that they registered 31 non-substantial ghost corporations, created 70 cannon bankbooks, and sold them to investment scammers.



The Gangnam Police Station in Seoul handed over 25 people per day to the prosecution on charges of fraud and obstruction of business.



(Video coverage: Kim Se-kyung, video editing: Park Ki-duk, CG: Lee Jun-ho)