Chinese Illegal Immigrants Set Up Voice Phishing Transformers At Jeju Hotel Arrested

a modified repeater installed in a hotel room

An illegal Chinese resident in his 20s who installed a modified repeater in a hotel that changes the phone number of "070" from overseas to "010" has been arrested.

According to multiple media reports on the 12th, the Jeju National Police Agency arrested A on charges of violating the Telecommunications Business Act. A is accused of installing one alteration repeater each in two hotel rooms in Jeju City from the 7th to the 9th of last month.

A modified repeater is a device that converts an Internet phone number such as 070 from overseas into a domestic number that starts with 010, and is used for telephone financial fraud (voice phishing). It is also very difficult to track the caller as the number is not available even if the caller calls the relevant number later.

SK Telecom detected suspicious signals and reported them to the police, and the police launched a search on the scene on the 8th and 9th of last month and found and collected the altered repeaters installed under the chairs and in the drawers of the two rooms in the hotel. Then, A, who stayed in the room at the time, was arrested in downtown Jeju on the 4th.

According to a police investigation, it was confirmed that A participated in the crime through a part-time job recruitment announcement that he would give 150,000 won per day on WeChat, a Chinese mobile messenger. However, it was not confirmed whether A received money in connection with the installation of the altered repeater.

a modified repeater installed in a hotel room

A was found to be maintaining his position that he did not know who ordered the crime, saying, "I just received and installed a repeater thrown in a clean house, a separate discharge place for household waste."

The police said, "So far, it has not been confirmed that the overseas number was converted into a domestic number or suffered voice phishing damage through this variable," adding, "We have seized A's mobile phone and are continuing the follow-up investigation through digital forensics."

Date: 2023-12-12

Reporter: 서화목