South Korea repatriates 73 scam suspects from Cambodia in $33 million online fraud probe

By Heejin Kim and Jack Kim

INCHEON, South Korea, Jan 23 (Reuters) – South Korea has repatriated 73 people suspected of involvement in online scam operations in Cambodia and will question them over allegations they had defrauded more than 800 South Koreans of about $33 million, officials said.

The plane carrying the suspects, the largest such group to be returned so far, landed at Incheon International Airport on Friday.

Footage from South Korean broadcasters showed the suspected scammers, wearing masks and mostly clad in shorts and sandals, being escorted by police from the plane to a waiting bus.

“It’s a big mistake if you think you can evade punishment if you commit a crime outside the country,” a South Korean police official told a briefing at the airport.

“We will pursue crimes that harm our citizens to the end and demand that they take responsibility.”

A foreign ministry official told the briefing that South Korea would continue to cooperate with Cambodia “until transnational scam crimes were eradicated”.

The return of the group follows a joint investigation by both nations, a spokesperson for the Korean presidential office, Kang Yu-jung, told a separate briefing on Thursday.

Investigators uncovered seven scam centres, where the suspects are accused of defrauding 869 South Koreans of 49 billion won ($33 million) online, Kang said.

Among the suspects are a couple accused of extorting about 12 billion won from 104 South Koreans using deepfake technology to disguise their identities in romance scams, she said.

The couple are believed to have undertaken plastic surgery in a bid to avoid being traced by police, she added.

Another suspect is accused of being involved in extorting 19.4 billion won from retirees and entry-level employees by pretending to be a professional investor, according to the presidential office.

Cambodian authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.

In October, a group of 64 South Koreans was returned home over suspected scams, following the alleged murder of a South Korean college student tortured in Cambodia in August in a case linked to an employment scam.

($1=1,467.3100 won)

(Reporting by Heejin Kim and Jack Kim in Seoul and additional reporting by Dogyun Kim in Incheon; Editing by Ed Davies, Clarence Fernandez and Michael Perry)