[PD수첩] The second voice phishing, financial reading scam

– About 200 members of the organization, an illegal gambling site company with a profit of 1.3 trillion won, and the luxurious life of CEO Kim

– The second voice phishing ‘jaetech reading scam’, gambling with the mask of investment?

– A game where you have no choice but to lose money, 50% chance of cheating

On the night of the 29th, PD Notebook digs into the reality of the increasing number of online gambling site users and the evolving illegal gambling sites due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Why did their method of stealing money from victims by saying that the new operating method, ‘jaetech leading scam’, guarantees a high rate of return worked?

In September of last year, the site of arresting the organization of an illegal gambling site in the Philippines. The police special forces stormed into the house of Kim, the head of the organization. After an hour-and-a-half search, they arrested Kim, who was hiding in the grass near the house. In April 2019, intelligence was obtained from the National Intelligence Service, and it was the result of two years of joint investigation between the Korean National Police Agency and the Philippines.

PD Notebook arrived in the Philippines and met a informant who knew Kim, the general manager of an illegal gambling site. The informant said that it was a large building located in Pasay, Philippines, where many gambling site companies, including the former Kim organization, were gathered. People coming out of the building. They each got into a van. The informant said, “It’s a camp. This is because it is easy to manage and can prevent the churn rate.” PD Notebook met with Kim’s former members and heard about her real life. He said, “A large company in the top 3 in the Toto market? We have a system,” he said. It is said that 200 subordinates under Mr. Kim, the CEO of the company, were divided into four teams to operate the gambling site.

Mr. Kim’s company was known for its scale by providing about 40 gambling sites to Korea. They earned 1.3 trillion won in revenue for 1 year and 6 months. According to the prosecution’s indictment, he sent a large number of stimulating text messages about investment and yields and made them click. There was also the method of the finance team in which they induce people to play games to earn profits, and when they deposit a large amount of money, they steal the money by manipulation.

They said the profits were significantly higher than the other teams. As the Kim organization’s profits increased, their lives changed. When I went to a round of golf above the executive level, I rented the entire golf course and enjoyed it. When I stayed at the hotel, I used the whole floor. General Manager Kim enjoyed a luxurious life, owning 10 luxury vehicles and having 17 drivers and bodyguards. An official at a Philippine resort said that there are times when the price of the tea they bring can reach 5 billion units. Kim has been arrested and is currently in a camp for foreigners in the Philippines. The National Police Agency is discussing the timing and procedure for his repatriation with the Philippine authorities.

Kang-hee Lee (pseudonym), who works as a social worker, received an SNS advertisement message one day. She said at some point that she also sent information about her returns. She said to Mr. Lee, her team leader, she emphasized a return of 300%, and that she recommended investing in bitcoin, she says. It was a method of predicting whether the coin graph would go up or down, and if it was right, it would make a profit, if it was wrong, it would lose the principal. As directed by her team leader, her first investment was successful and immediately profitable, but problems arose in the process of reinvesting. The money she was holding became ‘0 won’.

He lost a total of 240 million won, including his son, money he had saved, and loans. Hong Ki-hoon, a professor of business administration at Hongik University, said it was not a bitcoin transaction. “If you put money in and go up, the person who bought it will make money. If it falls, the seller will make money. You can see it as odd or even.” Unlike ordinary coin trading, there is a time limit for investment. “It’s a very similar structure to gambling, in fact, where you give it three minutes of investment and get results after a few seconds.”

PD Notebook was able to meet the insider of the investment site. He said, “In technical terms, it is called Jaetech. If you show the potential and dispel any suspicion that it is a scam, you will be convinced. That’s when we work.” The informants accessed the investment site for financial investment, but the space had been turned into a gambling house.

Su-min Kang (pseudonym), who suffers from severe panic disorder and takes medication every day. After running a side dish shop for 8 years, he said that he made an extreme attempt last winter. The incident started when I was invited to an SNS group chat room. When I saw people boasting of profits, he was interested because he was in a situation where business could not be done in the aftermath of the corona virus. He started with a small investment, but the amount has grown. The button on the phone didn’t work when the rate of return was going up while climbing the ladder (game) over and over again. Mr. Kang suffered a huge loss. He lost nearly 100 million won in total.

Why do you lose so much money in gambling even though the odds are 50%? Jang Won-cheol, a professor of statistics at Seoul National University, said, “When the odds are 50%, it’s a game where the odds are double-sided, but it’s a concept that I take a fee every time I play (game). “Even if I only take fees, I make a lot of money,” he explained. Different odds for each site. It was the basic profit structure that operators had. There was another way. The site operator reads the flow of the bet amount and manipulates it to their advantage. The outcome of the gamble did not depend on luck.

Illegal gambling sites go through a process of reporting by and related organizations, and are subject to deliberation by the so-called ‘Vigilance Committee’, and then access is blocked. According to data from the Board of Audit and Inspection in 2019, it takes an average of 15 days from the request for deliberation to the decision on whether to block. Kang Shin-seong, secretary general of the Citizens’ Solidarity for Prevention of Addiction, argued that “gambling sites are an advanced and evolving process, but they cannot keep up with the process of deliberation by the ‘Vigilance Committee’.” What is the position of the ‘Vigilant Committee’? They said that they had operated by increasing the number of reviewers, and that they were requesting additional review personnel from the relevant ministries. They replied that they would try to pass the bill and expand the budget to introduce a regular electronic review system.

The size of the illegal gambling market is growing rapidly, but the monitoring and enforcement system is not keeping up with it. The damage is being passed on to the people. Gambling organizations are operating with servers overseas, so it is difficult to crack down on them. A system must be in place to expedite arrests and cooperation through cooperative investigations with Interpol. Recovering proceeds of crime is as important as arresting gambling offenders. Experts are of the opinion that it is difficult to eradicate gambling organizations if the organization’s financial lines are not cut off. It is time for a system to continuously monitor illegal sites and to quickly block any reports of damage.