South Korea breaks up Vietnamese labor fraud ring

On June 23, police in Thong-young City, Kyeongnam Province, about 400km south of Seoul, arrested eight Vietnamese women in a fraud ring that brought Vietnamese people to Korea, stealing over VND4 billion.

South Korea's Chosun TV reported on the incident on June 23. (Photo: Pham Duy/Vietnam+)

According to the investigation of the VNA reporter, local police said that among the eight subjects above, there is a 37-year-old woman who came to Korea through marriage and has now obtained Korean citizenship, playing the role of leader of this fraud ring.

In June 2014, this subject set up a "ghost company" and advertised on social networking sites of the Vietnamese community in Korea that it could help bring people from Vietnam to Korea with work visas for a fee of 5 to 9 million won (about 100 - 180 million VND). Assisting this subject were a 27-year-old woman who acted as a broker and six other Vietnamese women whose job was to find and introduce people in need.

Using the above tricks, from June to December 2014, these subjects defrauded 143 Vietnamese people with a total amount of 210 million won (about 4.2 billion VND). After paying the subjects who introduced each case 500 thousand won (about 10 million VND), the remaining amount was sent to their families in Vietnam by the leaders and brokers and spent lavishly on personal expenses.

Based on the complaints of several Vietnamese victims living and working in Thong-young City, the police have investigated and arrested the suspects in this fraud ring. Currently, the local police have initiated a case and prosecuted seven suspects, including the ringleader and broker, while five other suspects have been released on bail for further investigation; the remaining suspect has not been prosecuted and has been released on bail but is banned from leaving Korea.

Previously, in April, Busan City Police, South Korea, also arrested six people in a fraud ring that defrauded 37 Vietnamese people using similar methods, with a total amount of money embezzled up to 150 million won (about 3 billion VND).

However, on some social networking sites and forums of Vietnamese people in Korea, there are still advertisements and classifieds about brokerage services with similar content and fraudulent forms. Authorities recommend that people need to be more vigilant to avoid becoming victims of these scammers.

According to VNA