Can I file a civil suit for fraud?

Hello. I am a civil attorney at Daeryun Law LLC.

If you have suffered voice phishing damage, you can attempt to recover the lost money through a civil suit for fraud, separately from the criminal proceedings.

If the defendant in the criminal trial was merely a cash collector or acted under the direction of a higher-level organization, the court may issue a decision of dismissal at the compensation order stage on the ground that the defendant is not a person who directly obtained unlawful gains.

However, in a civil suit for fraud, you can prove more broadly matters such as conspiracy in the tort, aiding-and-abetting liability, and the causal relationship for the occurrence of the loss, so you can claim damages separately from the criminal outcome.

That is, if the perpetrator actually played a certain role in the course of the crime, they can be held liable for civil damages for fraud as an "accomplice in the voice phishing crime" or a "joint principal in the tort."

In this case, evidence such as the victim's account transfer records, call logs, the financial institution's payment suspension processing records, and the suspect interrogation reports secured by the investigative agency serves as important evidence.

In addition, given the nature of voice phishing cases, a claim for damages based on tort is possible not only against the individual collector but also against the ringleader at a higher level in the fund-transfer structure or the account holder who provided the borrowed-name account, among others.

In a civil suit, you claim the entire amount of the loss, but in reality there are many cases where the perpetrator has no property or the criminal proceeds are already impossible to recover.

Therefore, it is important to check the practical possibility of recovery in advance by carrying out, in parallel, measures such as provisional attachment or an application for a search of assets.

Filing a civil suit for fraud is fully possible in itself, and you can pursue recovery of your losses through a legal channel separate from the criminal proceedings.

However, because, given the structural nature of voice phishing crimes, the process of identifying the defendant and proving the causal relationship is not easy, it is essential to establish a legal strategy and a direction for securing evidence with the assistance of an attorney experienced in civil litigation.

The sooner you respond, the higher the likelihood of recovering the money lost to voice phishing.

It is advisable to comprehensively review matters such as the investigation records currently secured, the grounds for dismissal of the compensation order, and whether the perpetrator has any property, and then design the civil response procedure.