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Police arrest 63 individuals involved in large-scale phone scam operations

Published: 27 Nov. 2025, 14:00 Updated: 27 Nov. 2025, 16:13

Police display illegal signal-altering relay device used to change overseas caller IDs to domestic 010 numbers after arresting 63 suspects, including a local coordinator, for violating the Telecommunications Business Act. [GYEONGGI NAMBU PROVINCIAL POLICE]

Police arrested 63 people, many of them ordinary job seekers, for operating relay stations that helped overseas scammers disguise calls as local mobile numbers in a scheme linked to more than 35 billion won ($24 million) in losses, officials said Thursday.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said it detained a woman who managed the domestic operation, and 62 others who ran the relay stations. Police sent 56 of them to prosecutors in custody on charges that include violations of the Telecommunications Business Act.

Investigators said the group operated 52 relay stations across Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Gangwon, Gwangju, Daejeon, Daegu, Gyeongsang and Chungcheong from October last year to Oct. 27 this year. The stations used unused smartphones fitted with illicit SIM cards to switch caller IDs from foreign phishing rings into 010 numbers used by Korean mobile subscribers.

Each operator typically ran 30 to 40 devices and earned 4 to 6 million won a month in fees, police said. The spoofed numbers were tied to 768 victims who lost a combined 35.4 billion won.

Police said the suspected ringleader and two associates remained overseas and are the subject of an Interpol Red Notice.

The ringleader allegedly worked with multiple call centers running investment and romance scams, earning about 1 million won per smartphone while paying operators 130,000 to 150,000 won per device.

Officers arrest a member of a ring that operated caller ID-spoofing relay stations, part of a group of 63 suspects detained for violating the Telecommunications Business Act. [GYEONGGI NAMBU PROVINCIAL POLICE]

Authorities identified more than 4,000 phone numbers used in the scheme. Police asked mobile carriers to suspend 1,213 of the numbers starting with 010 during the investigation to limit further losses.

Investigators plan to charge the operators with aiding fraud because the altered caller IDs were used in investment schemes, reservation scams, online sales scams, voice phishing and romance scams.

Individual losses ranged from tens of thousands of won to as much as 2.7 billion won. The largest losses were linked to investment advisory scams.

"The scammers uploaded photos of themselves and their families on KakaoTalk profiles, which made the offers seem real," victims told police.

A distributor hired by a local coordinator is seen throwing a caller ID-spoofing device in Korea as part of a trafficking method used by a group of 63 people arrested for running fake caller ID relay stations in violation of the Telecommunications Business Act. [GYEONGGI NAMBU PROVINCIAL POLICE]

The probe began in July when officers found illegal SIM cards, not drugs, during a separate narcotics investigation that used the so-called throwing method, in which dealers leave packages at prearranged drop points instead of meeting buyers directly.

Police reviewed surveillance camera footage from more than 1,000 locations and raided 51 sites in 11 regions nationwide, seizing 1,637 smartphones, 4,299 SIM cards and other telecom equipment valued at about 2.6 billion won.

Police said most operators were ordinary members of the public, including three couples in their 40s and 50s, relatives such as brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, and couples and friends in their 20s and 30s. Many told investigators they responded to ads for high-paying part-time jobs and did not understand how the scheme was being used.

Police said they are continuing efforts to track the overseas suspects and the phishing rings involved.

"Scam call centers based overseas turned to 010 numbers after 070 numbers came under tighter monitoring, which caused large-scale harm," a police official said.

"Running a spoofing relay station carries heavy penalties, so people should not be lured by promises of earning several million won a month," the official added.

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.
BY SON SUNG-BAE [[email protected]]