South Korea seeks arrest warrants for 59 online scam suspects repatriated from Cambodia

South Korean police have sought arrest warrants for 59 of 64 suspects repatriated from Cambodia for alleged involvement in online scams. The suspects were part of investigations into romance and voice phishing scams across multiple provinces, officials said

Seoul: South Korea’s Police said on Monday they have sought arrest warrants for 59 suspects repatriated from Cambodia over their alleged involvement in various online scams. Sixty-four such suspects were flown home from Cambodia on Saturday, and one was arrested immediately with a pre-issued warrant.

Of the remaining 63, four were released soon after, while one was released after the prosecution denied the police’s request for an arrest warrant, the National Police Agency (NPA) said. By region, 45 suspects are being handled by the NPA’s South Chungcheong Province office, while 15 are being handled by the North Gyeonggi Province office, including those that have already been released, reports Yonhap news agency.

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The remaining four suspects are being investigated by the Daejeon, Gimpo, Wonju, and Seoul Seodaemun offices, respectively. The South Chungcheong office has been conducting investigations into romance and other scams that occurred between the end of last year and last July, while the North Gyeonggi office has been investigating romance scams that took place from March to April.

Since the Cambodian authorities informed the South Korean police of their crackdown on local voice phishing call centres from July to September, and the detention of South Korean nationals suspected of involvement in the schemes, the NPA has designated the South Chungcheong and North Gyeonggi offices as the main investigation agencies for the crimes.

Police said several repatriated suspects have told investigators they were detained and assaulted by members of scam rings in Cambodia. All 64 have undergone drug tests with their consent, and all have come back negative, the police said.