Korea Queer Festival (Photo : Getty Images)
Extortion schemes remain a main feature of syndicates operating in South Korea, although it could also be the handiwork of a small-time group like what four different women did to JYJ member and actor Park Yoochun.
Korea Times reported that a phishing group based in China was busted by the Bucheon Wonmi Police Station. The syndicate, run by three Korean-Chinese men, were arrested for tricking 96 Korean men into naked video chatting.
The syndicate swindled from the 96 about 500 million won or $452,000. The chats happened between April 9 and July 11, wherein the participants of the chats from both sides were naked. The syndicate then saved the videos, infected the phones of the Korean men with a virus that advices them to install a program which displays videos in high-definition.
The group also hacked into the men’s address books and asked money from them in exchange for not spreading the videos to their friends or families. Eight of their victims paid through wire transfer various amounts, ranging from 500,000 won ($452) to 19.5 million won ($17,634).
Besides the extortion scheme, the group also pimped women to have sex with 88 Korean men by asking for advanced payments ranging from 100,000 won to 86 million won. However, the syndicate did not provide any women.
Other criminal activities of the group include fake job offers, impersonating investigation authorities and voice phishing.
A similar syndicate is operating in Australia with naked photos of teen Australian school girls circulating on a website. The victims are from a minimum of 70 private and public schools around Australia. An investigation into the matter is being conducted by police departments from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and ACT, ABC reported.
