SEOUL, Jan 12 — A joint South Korean investigation team has nabbed 26 people over scam crimes involving sexual exploitation in Cambodia through cooperation with the local authorities.
The Yonhap News Agency reported that the Presidential Office (Cheong Wa Dae) said the pan-government task force of Korean police and the National Intelligence Service took 26 members of a scam ring in Phnom Penh into custody during raids on their offices and residences on January 5, together with Cambodian police.
The suspects impersonated government agencies, including prosecutors and financial authorities, deceiving victims into believing they were implicated in crimes and extorting ₩26.7 billion (RM73.8 million) from 165 South Korean nationals under the pretext of investigating their assets.
In the process, numerous female victims were forced to record sexually exploitative videos or send explicit photos.
"This case illustrates how scam crimes have evolved beyond simply stealing money from ordinary people, instead relentlessly exploiting victims' psychological vulnerabilities and coercing them into producing sexual exploitation material, a method that utterly devastates the victims' lives," presidential spokesman Kang Yu-jung told the media today.
Task force officials said the crime ring involves South Koreans, adding they will verify the suspects' nationalities upon their repatriation.
Kang added that the government will immediately block the circulation of the sexually exploitative videos and bring the suspects back to South Korea to face punishment.
The latest roundup comes as South Korea has been ramping up efforts to combat crimes targeting its nationals in Cambodia, such as online scams, following the torture and death of a Korean college student lured to a scam centre in the Southeast Asian country in August last year.
