Suncheon Attorney | Assisting a Voice Phishing Cash Collector Client and Having the Prosecutor's Appeal Dismissed

The client was implicated as a cash collector for 🔗voice phishing and received a first-instance judgment imposing a fine.

The prosecutor, however, argued that the first-instance judgment imposing a fine was too lenient and filed an appeal seeking a severe punishment.

The prosecutor's grounds for appeal were as follows.

Voice phishing fraud is an offense in which large sums of money are obtained by exploiting the weaknesses of others who face economic hardship and the like, carried out under an organized and meticulous plan, and its harm to society is great.

Without a cash collector such as the defendant, a voice phishing crime organization would have no way to obtain the proceeds of the offense and could not even begin to commit it.

A cash collector should be regarded as having played a role essential to the completion of the crime and the realization of its proceeds.

In particular, the defendant even carried out split transfers of the defrauded money using the names and resident registration numbers of others, making the nature of the offense all the more serious.

In the course of acting as a voice phishing cash collector, the client also used the name and resident registration number of another person.

As a result, the client was indicted for 🔗the crime of fraud, violation of the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment, and violation of the Resident Registration Act, and received a first-instance judgment imposing a fine.

The Crime of Fraud

∙A person who deceives another and takes property or obtains a pecuniary advantage is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine not exceeding 20 million won.
∙The same punishment as in the preceding paragraph applies where, by the method in that paragraph, a person causes a third party to receive property or to obtain a pecuniary advantage.

Violation of the Act on Regulation and Punishment of Criminal Proceeds Concealment

A person who commits any of the following offenses is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won

∙A person who disguises facts concerning the acquisition or disposition of criminal proceeds and the like
∙A person who disguises facts concerning the cause of the generation of criminal proceeds
∙A person who conceals criminal proceeds and the like for the purpose of promoting a specific crime or disguising them as lawfully acquired property

Violation of the Resident Registration Act

A violation of the Resident Registration Act is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 3 years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won.

Representative examples of a violation of the Resident Registration Act are as follows.

∙Conduct that violates the method for assigning resident registration numbers
∙Conduct of reporting or applying with false facts concerning resident registration or a resident registration card
∙Conduct of unlawfully using another person's resident registration card

The Suncheon attorney argued that the client had reached an amicable settlement with the victims and that the victims also did not wish for the defendant to be punished.

The client made efforts to substantially restore the financial harm that the victims suffered as a result of the facts charged in this case.

To that end, the client paid the full amount of the victims' criminal losses and was able to reach a settlement with the victims.

Through the client's efforts, all of the victims accepted the defendant's sincere apology and remorse and prepared settlement statements, showing an attitude of forgiveness and leniency.

The Suncheon attorney emphasized that the victims likewise did not wish for the client to be punished and argued that any punishment beyond that of the original judgment would be unjust.

The Suncheon attorney argued that the reason the client became involved in the facts charged in this case was to obtain living expenses.

Before becoming involved in this case, the client had lost employment and had no income, and the client became involved in the facts charged in this case while desperately searching for work.

The Suncheon attorney argued that the cause of the client's involvement in the facts charged in this case was the need to make up for living expenses and emphasized that any punishment beyond that of the original judgment would be excessive.