Serial Fraudsters Detained Across Uzbekistan for South Korea Employment Scams

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Law enforcement agencies in several regions of the Republic of Uzbekistan have uncovered and suppressed a series of large-scale frauds involving the fictitious provision of services to send citizens to work and study in South Korea.

The perpetrators, who included previously convicted individuals as well as a former relevant official, exploited the high demand for overseas employment to obtain large sums of foreign currency from unsuspecting applicants.

The most high-profile and largest incident was recorded in the Ferghana region. A former head of the regional branch of the Agency for External Labor Migration became the subject of a criminal case. Using his past authority and official connections, he defrauded eight citizens of a total of US$90,000, promising them guaranteed successful completion of qualification exams and subsequent dispatch abroad for work. In the same region, within the Ferghana district, another intermediary claiming to have "reliable contacts" in the migration agency took US$10,000 from a victim (a portion amounting to US$3,000 was later returned).

Deception was equally widespread in the Namangan region, where a criminal duo in the Yangikurgan district defrauded 22 local residents, misappropriating US$34,200 and 79.3 million soums. In the Jizzakh region, security forces documented three separate episodes. A previously convicted citizen, I. A., defrauded six people of US$32,300. In the Farish district, another fraudster extorted US$4,000, while another resident of the region misappropriated US$7,000 (investigators managed to partially recover only a small portion of these assets).

The geography of the criminal operations covered other regions as well:

In Gulistan (Syrdarya region), a local resident collected US$19,000 from six citizens in exchange for promising a South Korean visa and employment contract.

In Samarkand, an incident was recorded where US$12,500 was handed over by a single victim for travel assistance.

In the Gijduvan district of the Bukhara region, a previously convicted perpetrator defrauded a victim of US$5,600, promising to arrange enrollment in a South Korean university and a part-time job through fictitious connections in the upper echelons of government.

Investigative authorities have initiated criminal cases for all uncovered offenses under the relevant articles of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Comprehensive procedural actions are currently underway to identify possible accomplices and ensure maximum compensation for the material damage caused to the affected citizens.