Organized scammers who sold phantom goods have been arrested.
The elaborate fraud schemes occurred on online second-hand markets since 2014.
About 5,000 victims were defrauded out of over 4.9 billion won from the online shopping scam.
Mike Laidman reports.

This is a posting for used goods on an online market.
The author of the post claims to be selling a camera, still in the box, which has never been used.
There are many listings here for all sorts of used products; the only difference being that nobody ever receives their purchase after ordering and wiring money to the seller.


Now, police have been able to round up a number of the scammers who have been taking advantage of people online.

An office used by a group of the scammers to make fake listings was located in the Philippines.
They used fake IDs and forged business registration certificates in order to make online shoppers trust them.
When unsuspecting customers sent money, they laundered it through bank accounts with fake names and used cryptocurrencies to avoid being tracked.


Roughly 5,000 victims have wired more than 4.9 billion won to such scammers since 2014, with the methods that the scammers use evolving over time.



If a seller wants to register at an online shop, they can do so without any checks.
Scammers used this loophole to register with fake business registration certificates and then used SNS platforms to dodge the police.


Once a consumer has sent money and realised they’ve been had, they are intimidated by the scammer with the threat of personal information to discourage them from reporting the fraud to the police.


The police have arrested 30 scammers, including their 38-year-old leader, last name (강) Gang, on charges of organized crime and interfering with business.
Among them, 14 have been sent to the prosecutor’s office for further investigation.

Police think there are other organizations performing similar crimes, and are thus expanding their investigation.

Mike Laidman, KCTV