Two arrested in Wonsan for smishing, voice phishing crimes targeting donju
North Korea has arrested two people in Wonsan, a city in Kangwon province, in mid-July 2026. Investigators say the pair used a “smishing” scheme, sending malware-laden text messages, to steal money from donju, the country’s wealthy market entrepreneurs. A Daily NK source in Kangwon province said recently that the two had brazenly exploited the fact […]
Two individuals in Wonsan, North Korea, were arrested in mid-July 2026 for committing smishing and voice phishing crimes targeting wealthy market entrepreneurs, known as "donju." Smishing involves sending malware-laden text messages to steal money, while voice phishing, or "voice fraud," exploits personal information obtained from smishing to extort funds.
The crime spree exploited North Korea's growing reliance on contactless mobile payments and money transfers. The pair, both gifted students who studied information technology at Pyongyang's Central University, initially posed as the central bank or a senior inspection agency. They sent mass fake text messages to donju, claiming inspectors had detected "non-socialist fund flows" in their e-wallet accounts and demanded they click a link to confirm.
Clicking the link installed malware that intercepted e-wallet passwords and allowed the pair to steal funds in real time.
In addition to smishing-based phone hacking, the criminals used stolen personal details to conduct voice fraud. They impersonated government agencies, claiming the arrest of victims' children on charges of spreading reactionary ideology. The criminals threatened to punish the families unless they transferred money to designated accounts.
Major donju in Wonsan, Sinuiju, and Chongjin suffered significant financial losses due to the crime, and the resulting cash crunch disrupted wholesale transactions and prices in local markets.
The Kim regime's investment in elite IT talent to foster cyber security ultimately backfired as the trained specialists turned to crime at home. The Ministry of Social Security is investigating whether the pair had accomplices and tracing the flow of stolen funds. The government is concerned about the potential for more sophisticated IT crimes to spread in the future.
Written by urgent.news from Daily NK's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
