A South Korean crypto criminal begged for a shorter sentence. The judge doubled it instead

A man’s bid to reduce his sentence for using crypto to launder $68,000 for a voice phishing gang has failed spectacularly — with an appeals court sending him to jail.

The unnamed man, aged in his 30s, was sentenced to four years of probation by a district court in 2024, the South Korean newspaper Kyeonggi Shinmun reported.

The same court also sentenced him to two and a half years in jail, but eventually suspended the sentence for four years.

A probationary period means he would need to check in with a probation officer on a regular basis. Under suspension, if he were to commit another crime during that time, he would be sent to prison.

Unhappy with this verdict, the man appealed to the Suwon High Court in the hope of reducing his sentence.

That backfired.

Instead of cutting his sentence, the court reversed the suspension order and jailed the man for four years.

The appeals court ruled that the defendant was “not merely a participant” in the voice phishing ring, but said he’d “played a key role” and that it couldn’t accept the district court’s decision to suspend the sentence.

Criminal may strike again

The man worked with a South Korean voice phishing ring, converting victims’ funds into an unnamed cryptocurrency before sending them to an address in China, prosecutors told the court.

The ring’s members posed as public prosecutors and called victims to warn them that criminals had stolen their identities and opened bank accounts in their names.

They then warned victims that their assets were at risk, advising them to withdraw their funds and send them to “safe” bank accounts.

These accounts, however, were under the ring’s control, and they were emptied as soon as they received the victims’ money.

The defendant’s legal team told the court he had agreed to compensate the victims for their losses.

The court was unimpressed, noting that the man was a repeat offender with prior links to voice phishing scams.

“The court has seen evidence that the defendant referred to himself as ‘a person in charge.’ He received daily reports on the ring’s operations and played a key role in the voice phishing crimes,” said the judge.

“He gave orders to other members of the organisation.”

The judge said it had no choice but to issue “a severe punishment commensurate with the defendant’s degree of involvement.”

The court concluded that the man had clearly not learned from his prior mistakes.

“Even though he was fully aware of the illegality and social harm of his actions, he reoffended,” the judge concluded. “As such, there is a high possibility he will commit further crimes of this nature.”

Under South Korean law, the man retains the right to appeal to the Supreme Court, which has the power to extend his sentence if it rejects his appeal.

Tim Alper is a news correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.