▲ Busan District Court
A man in his 30s has been sentenced to a heavy prison term for tracking down a victim who intended to report a Cambodia-based voice phishing organization, seizing their mobile phone, and holding them captive and assaulting them for approximately 46 hours.
The Busan District Court's Criminal Division 7 (Presiding Judge Lim Ju-hyeok) announced on June 15 that it had sentenced the man, who was charged with retaliatory injury and retaliatory confinement under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, to seven years in prison.
According to the court ruling, the defendant, identified as A, is accused of finding the victim, B, also in his 30s, at a sauna in Incheon on December 7 of last year, threatening him, and taking two mobile phones from him.
The victim had been working for a voice phishing organization in Cambodia but had a falling out with a manager. Upon returning to South Korea, he had sent a message to the manager expressing his intent to "surrender to the police."
Defendant A, a friend of the organization's manager, had expressed his intention to join the group and was waiting in Korea at the time.
After seizing the victim, A threatened him by saying, "The Chinese mastermind has ordered ethnic Koreans to harvest your organs, and people will be here soon," adding, "If you don't follow me, you will have your organs harvested and die." He then forced the victim into a vehicle.
A subsequently took the victim to a motel, where he assaulted him multiple times and poured boiling water on specific parts of his body twice, causing burns.
A also drove the victim around, searching for a mountain while ordering him to "stab your own thigh with a knife and jump off the mountain."
The victim managed to escape to an adjacent building by jumping out of a motel window while A was briefly out of the room.
The court stated, "The defendant injured and confined the victim for the purpose of preventing a report of voice phishing crimes," adding, "Although the victim must have suffered extreme mental distress, the defendant shows no remorse and is instead blaming the victim."
The court further explained the sentencing, noting, "The defendant has multiple prior convictions, committed the crime during a repeat offense period, and has not been forgiven by the victim."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.