Number of Koreans caught in Southeast Asian crime operations more than quadruples

Koreans apprehended for transnational crimes in Southeast Asia more than quadrupled in the first half of this year, with criminal operations spreading to neighboring countries amid a crackdown in Cambodia.

A total of 462 Koreans were apprehended on suspicion of transnational crimes including online scams and gambling in six Southeast Asian countries — Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos and the Philippines — in the first half of this year, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday. The figure was 4.6 times the 100 cases recorded during the same period last year.

The number apprehended in the first half has already surpassed the 356 recorded throughout last year.

Cambodia saw the steepest increase, from 12 to 187, while the number rose from 37 to 117 in Vietnam and from 37 to 70 in Thailand.

In January, 24 Koreans were caught at an apartment complex in Malaysia on suspicion of online gambling. Five Koreans were apprehended in Vietnam in June for allegedly impersonating military personnel and defense suppliers and defrauding 38 victims in Korea of 800 million won ($562,600). Another 17 Koreans were arrested in Laos in July for allegedly taking money from victims through messaging apps while posing as booking agents and offering other services.

The number of reported victims, meanwhile, has fallen sharply. The number of Koreans who reported being confined by scam organizations in Cambodia dropped 94 percent, from 225 in the first half of last year to 14 this year.

While crackdowns on large scam compounds have reduced the number of victims, criminal groups appear to be hiding in houses and condominiums in smaller provincial cities or relocating their bases to neighboring countries where regulation and law enforcement are relatively lax.

The government believes many participants are heading overseas knowing that the work involves crime rather than being deceived into joining. Authorities have identified cases of young people who fell into debt through online gambling and were lured by recruiters promising high earnings. Some have lost money and accumulated debt at Cambodian casinos before joining scam operations to repay what they owed. Recruiters have also recently been found openly seeking participants by promising to even provide money for prison commissary accounts if they are apprehended.

The operations have also expanded beyond Southeast Asia. Fourteen Korean members of a scam organization caught in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on July 23 had relocated their operations from Cambodia to Vietnam and eventually to Central Asia. All 14 were repatriated to Korea between July 28 and Aug. 5.

President Lee Jae Myung also referred to the case in a post on X on Tuesday.

“No matter where they hide, we will track them down to the end and make sure they face justice,” Lee wrote.

In Africa, a Korean man in his 20s was arrested in June on suspicion of involvement in an online scam and sentenced to two years in prison.

There are also concerns that Timor-Leste could emerge as another hub for criminal activity, with criminal organizations believed to be exploiting the country's vulnerabilities and moving in. Timor-Leste authorities said they apprehended around 100 foreign nationals during raids in three areas from July 24 to 31.

Korea's Foreign Ministry recently established a group responding to transnational crime, involving 18 Korean diplomatic missions in Southeast Asia as well as its embassies in Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and Japan.

The ministry believes it is difficult to prevent people from leaving the country because Korean passport holders can enter a wide range of countries without visas.

“Anywhere in the world can now become a base for transnational crime organizations,” a Foreign Ministry official said. “Wherever there is even a small opening, they move in and put down criminal roots at astonishing speed.”

BY YOON JI-WON [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]