![An immigration office in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Oct. 17. [NEWS1]](https://imgnews.pstatic.net/image/640/2025/10/17/0000078389_001_20251017164812947.jpg?type=w860)
Members of an organized, Cambodia-based voice phishing ring who allegedly extorted hundreds of millions of won out of dozens of victims were all handed prison terms at their first trial.
The Seoul Eastern District Court on Friday sentenced a senior manager level member of the ring, a 32-year-old person surnamed Seo, who was indicted in custody on charges including joining a criminal organization, to six years in prison.
Other members charged alongside Seo received prison terms ranging from three to four years. The court also ordered about 10 million won ($70,370) to be confiscated from the defendants.
The court said telecommunications-based financial fraud “inflicts irrecoverable losses on an unspecified number of victims and causes serious social harm.”
“Because the suspects set up a base overseas and operated in an organized, specialized manner with increasingly sophisticated methods that are difficult to detect, the harm is severe,” the court added.
Prosecutors say the defendants operated from a call center in Cambodia and carried out several fraudulent activities. Investigators allege the suspects belonged to a criminal organization known as the “Hanya call center,” run by a foreign ringleader using the alias “Ma Dong seok,” and stole about 527 million won from victims through scam operations.
The prosecution found the group ran teams for different types of scams, including romance scams, “body scam” phishing and impersonating institutions.
Earlier, in August, the court handed sentences of four years and of one year and six months to members surnamed Shin and Na, respectively. On Oct. 1, another member, Kim, was sentenced to three years and six months in prison and ordered to pay 974,400 won.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
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