Financial Transaction Violation Case | Deceived by a Loan Text Message into Violating the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, Non-Referral

The client needed several million won in urgent funds for a child’s study-abroad matter.

The client, who already had substantial debt, was blocked from a bank loan and, trusting a single loan information text message, began a phone call with a consultant.

The consultant approached in the following manner.

The client thought of this only as part of the loan procedure and, following the consultant’s instructions, opened the account and provided the information accordingly.

However, a few days later the client suddenly received a notice stating that the account was ‘suspected of being used in fraud and that transactions would be suspended.’

Only then did the client realize that the client had been used in a crime, and immediately changed the password, disabled the linkage to other accounts, and filed a cybercrime report.

However, a police investigation was already scheduled, and the client, judging it difficult to handle alone, came to request assistance from a criminal defense attorney of this firm.

Article 6-3 of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act prohibits the following acts.

In other words, the act itself of simply informing another person of one’s own account number, password, and the like may be suspected as ‘provision of an access medium.’

In fact, because many voice phishing and financial fraud organizations exploit accounts in victims’ names, the police conduct the investigation treating such persons as suspects in these situations.

In the client’s case as well, it was confirmed that the person who sent the loan text message used the client’s account as a channel for transferring criminal proceeds, and the suspicion was raised that the client ‘had handed the account over to a criminal organization.’

However, for this crime to be established, one more crucial element is required.

That is intent, namely “the awareness that one provided the account while knowing that the account could be used in a crime.”

Therefore, from the early stage of the case the criminal defense attorney focused the strategy on proving, through specific facts and circumstances, that ‘there was no intent.’

The criminal defense attorney specifically organized and submitted the reasons why the client had no choice but to misunderstand the loan consultant’s explanation as a ‘loan procedure.’

Through this, the attorney was able to clearly support the point that the client had no intent to take part in a crime.

The criminal defense attorney analyzed the organization’s method of approach, conversation pattern, use of virtual numbers, and urgent time pressure, and logically established that the client was a victim exposed to the deception of a typical loan fraud organization.

The attorney also emphasized that there were clear circumstances indicating that the client had been induced to provide information (the password and verification number) that a financial institution would never request in its normal procedures.

Upon being notified that the account had been frozen, the client immediately took the following measures.

The criminal defense attorney emphasized the client’s active response and argued that it was the typical behavior of a victim that would not be seen in a criminal.

This worked very effectively in persuading the investigative authority.

The criminal defense attorney systematically submitted the following materials to enhance the credibility of the client’s statements.

Comprehensively considering these materials, the investigative authority reached the conclusion that “the suspect’s statements are not false or intended to conceal a crime, but are consistent with the actual characteristics of a victim.”

Article 6-3 of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act requires very strict care in the use and management of account information.

If anyone provides, transfers, keeps, or distributes to another person an access medium such as one’s own account number, password, or verification number, for the purpose of its use in a crime or while knowing that it will be used in a crime, a crime is established.

Penalty

In other words, there is a significant risk in that the act itself of transferring account information to another person can become a means of crime.

In particular, if it is used by a voice phishing or fraud organization, a person may become a subject of investigation even without intending it.

Daeryun Law Firm provides professional strategies based on experience accumulated through handling many similar cases, including voice phishing, involvement in loan fraud, and charges of providing an access medium.

After accurately identifying the facts, the firm prevents the client’s disadvantageous statements through organizing the direction of the statements and accompanying the client to the police investigation.

In addition, the firm provides multifaceted assistance with the case through collaboration with experts in specialized fields, such as digital forensics experts and evidence investigation experts.

If you are facing a police investigation in a similar situation, please feel free at any time to entrust your case through a 🔗legal consultation reservation.