SEOUL, Jan 12 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- A joint South Korean investigation team has nabbed 26 people over scam crimes involving sexual exploitation in Cambodia through cooperation with the local authorities, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae said Monday.
The pan-government task force of Korean police and the National Intelligence Service took 26 members of a scam ring in Phnom Penh into custody during raids into their offices and residences on Jan 5 together with Cambodian police, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told reporters.
The suspects impersonated government agencies, including prosecutors and financial authorities, deceiving victims into believing they were implicated in crimes and extorting 26.7 billion won (US$18.2 million) from 165 South Korean nationals under the pretext of investigating their assets, Kang said.
In the process, numerous female victims were forced to record sexually exploitative videos or send explicit photos.
"This case illustrates how scam crimes have evolved beyond simply stealing money from ordinary people, instead relentlessly exploiting victims' psychological vulnerabilities and coercing them into producing sexual exploitation material -- a method that utterly devastates the victims' lives," Kang said.
Task force officials said the crime ring involves South Koreans, adding they will verify the suspects' nationalities upon their repatriation.
The government will immediately block the circulation of the sexually exploitative videos and bring the suspects back to South Korea to face punishment, Kang said.
The latest roundup comes as South Korea has been ramping up efforts to combat crimes targeting its nationals in Cambodia, such as online scams, following the torture and death of a Korean college student lured to a scam centre in the Southeast Asian country in August last year. -- Bernama-Yonhap
