October 29, 2025
SEOUL – Forty-five South Koreans accused of orchestrating large-scale online scams in Cambodia targeting Koreans have been formally indicted and referred to the prosecution, the Chungnam Provincial Police Agency said Tuesday.
The suspects, all members of an organized crime ring in the Southeast Asian country, were extradited to Korea earlier this month, following a coordinated transnational crackdown on scam syndicates based in Cambodia.
The latest referrals stem from an intensive investigation by police officials in South Chungcheong Province into 45 of 59 individuals deported from Cambodia on Oct. 18.
Authorities of South Chungcheong Province said they had referred all 45 individuals under their authority to prosecutors as of Tuesday. Together with 10 suspects investigated by the police earlier, this brings the total number of those referred to 55.
The suspects are accused of joining a transnational criminal syndicate led by a Chinese national, known by the alias “Bugeon,” and of defrauding at least 110 Korean victims of nearly 9.3 billion won ($6.48 million), through romance scams, voice phishing, cryptocurrency fraud and impersonation-based schemes from mid-2023 through July this year.
The criminal network reportedly originated in China, where it began operating voice phishing scams in 2018. As the authorities cracked down, their operations shifted to Thailand before eventually reaching Cambodia.
“When the group was finally busted, they were found to be running operations from nine rented guesthouses in Phnom Penh, some surrounded by 2-meter-high fences and barbed wire,” said Jung Sung-hak, the official leading the investigations at the Chungnam Provincial Police Agency.
Of the 45 suspects referred to prosecutors, 25 were in their 20s, and 17 in their 30s, and three in their 40s. Eighteen of the 45 suspects were already wanted domestically, and one was on Interpol’s red notice list.
Jung added that the organizational hierarchy of the criminal ring was structured under a strict chain of command, “with managers, team leaders and a fixed number of members under each team.”
Team members brought in new recruits by luring them through high-paying job ads or from their personal connections, and some were reportedly recruited after losing significant amounts of money at local casinos during their travels.
Following the indictment of the 45 individuals, police are now working to combine parallel investigations under a single task force, as different investigative agencies nationwide are currently pursuing similar investigations. Authorities are now also working to pursue key figures who remain at large, including the alleged ringleader, Bugeon.
Authorities are also looking into potential ties to domestic Korean criminal groups, as they seek further investigative cooperation from Cambodian and other Southeast Asian authorities to dismantle similar transnational scam operations.
At a parliamentary audit session on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said 56 new cases of Koreans being abducted or held captive in Cambodia after being lured by job scams were reported in September.
Taking the September figures into account, the total number of such reports now comes to 386.
“Of the 386 reports filed this year, 296 have been resolved, leaving 90 still pending,” said Cho. “Combining that with the 12 unresolved cases from the 220 reports received last year, there are currently a total of 102 pending cases.”
Cho admitted that the ministry’s previous response measures were based on a traditional consular system, eventually leading to failure in dealing with the increase in transnational crimes.
“The ministry should have sought government-wide efforts to counter such trends,” Cho said. He added that the Foreign Ministry and Korean police will strengthen coordination with Cambodian authorities and, if needed, dispatch more personnel as part of plans to launch a joint task force to combat transnational scams.