After China and Cambodia, what scam will be next?
Published: 24 Oct. 2025, 00:02
Kang Ju-an
The author is an editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo.
The National Intelligence Service’s revelation that the ringleader behind the murder of a Korean college student in Cambodia was also an accomplice in the 2023 drug-laced beverage case in Seoul’s Daechi-dong has deepened public confusion. That earlier case shocked the country: A man forced 13 teenagers to drink methamphetamine-laced beverages and then attempted to extort money from them. With cooperation from Chinese police, Korean authorities tracked down the main suspect, a 28-year-old surnamed Lee, in Jilin Province China, and extradited him to Korea. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison by the Supreme Court in April. Now, it turns out that one of Lee’s accomplices masterminded the Cambodia murder case. The question is, how many accomplices are there — and where are they now?
![The 26 year-old, who is accused of masterminding a blackmail scheme using drinks mixed with drugs, entering the Incheon International Airport on Dec. 26, 2023, after being extradited from China. The person only identified as Lee has been in China since October 2022 while he was on trial for another extortion case. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/24/38be1d63-6ab6-4dfa-ad5f-c423f162473a.jpg)
The 26 year-old, who is accused of masterminding a blackmail scheme using drinks mixed with drugs, entering the Incheon International Airport on Dec. 26, 2023, after being extradited from China. The person only identified as Lee has been in China since October 2022 while he was on trial for another extortion case. [YONHAP]
President Lee Jae Myung has ordered an “extraordinary response” on Cambodian case. Yet victims of international crime say they have no faith in the government’s ability or resolve. The investigation by the police and prosecutors has been dismal. In court, the drug-laced beverage case was officially classified as a “new type of voice phishing crime.” It was a chilling sign of how voice phishing is evolving. These criminal networks even undermine law enforcement. During a probe into Korean members of a Chinese phishing ring, local operatives detained by Chinese authorities were later released without punishment.
The Cambodia case revealed further incompetence. The Korean Embassy in Phnom Penh let a 31-year-old suspect surnamed Kang — the alleged leader of a romance scam ring — walk away after he walked in the embassy to renew his passport. Victims say Korea is one of the easiest targets in the world. Two years ago, a wave of so-called “side job scams” targeted housewives. Scammers promised payments for purchasing products and writing online reviews but then vanished with the victims’ money. The structure mirrored that of voice phishing: groups of con artists working in chat rooms, impersonating officials from the prosecution or the Financial Supervisory Service.
Even when victims rushed to police stations to freeze the accounts of the scammers immediately after sending large sums, their requests were denied. Because the fraudsters used text messaging instead of voice calls, the crimes were not legally categorized as voice phishing. This loophole left victims unprotected. Legal experts have warned that the existing definition of voice phishing is too narrow to cover new forms of cyber fraud. As legal scholar Park Chan-geol noted, “Current classifications no longer capture the range of phishing methods now emerging.”
The romance scam in Cambodia was merely a variant of voice phishing built on false affection. So are investment scams that lure victims with promises of quick profits. When victims asked to freeze the accounts used in these schemes, officials again replied, “It’s not voice phishing.” Even as organized crime rings become more violent — drugging high school students, for instance — government agencies cling to outdated definitions.
Frustration has driven victims to organize themselves. New chat room groups are forming on KakaoTalk where victims share information and track criminal networks. Some have uncovered evidence that bank accounts belonging to foreign students in Korea are being used by crime syndicates. Yet their findings rarely lead to action. Lim, who manages a chat room with more than 380 victims of side job scams, said, “We find the evidence ourselves, but we don’t even know which office to contact.”
Secondary exploitation is now appearing in these online communities. Victims desperate for justice are being targeted again — this time by scammers impersonating prosecutors and demanding additional payments.
![A building suspected to be part of a criminal compound is seen in Sihanoukville, Cambodia on Oct. 14. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/10/24/e71384d3-38c5-4611-be61-2e1ed589a02b.jpg)
A building suspected to be part of a criminal compound is seen in Sihanoukville, Cambodia on Oct. 14. [YONHAP]
Meanwhile, overseas criminal networks continue recruiting unsuspecting Koreans through popular local job and online marketplace platforms, turning them into money mules or accomplices. Yet authorities have done little to prevent it. Under the previous Yoon Suk Yeol administration, opposition Democratic Party lawmakers were at least vocal about the government’s failures in National Assembly hearings. Under the current administration, even that pressure has disappeared.
President Lee’s latest order for stronger measures offers little reassurance. Law enforcement and financial institutions remain bound by rigid definitions of “voice phishing,” leaving them ill-equipped to confront rapidly evolving global crime rings. A new variant of fraud — posing as travel package promotions — has reportedly surfaced. Investigators have yet to determine where it originated. If the pattern continues, the next headlines may sound familiar: “It wasn’t voice phishing, it was a travel scam — so the account couldn’t be frozen.”
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.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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