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| The man suffered facial injuries after Seongdong police mistook him as part of a voice phishing scam and assaulted him. / Screen captured from Facebook |
By Lee Han-soo
Seongdong police are under heavy criticism after several officers bashed a civilian on Saturday after mistaking him for the middleman of a voice phishing scam.
Police assaulted the man near Oksu subway station in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, at 10:40 p.m.
During the arrest, the officers punched the man in the face and choked him. He suffered severe injuries to his right eye, lips, face and arm.
A follow-up interrogation revealed the man had nothing to do with the case.
"The police said the assault was inevitable because they were trying to catch a criminal," the man told Yonhap News Agency.
"But who would have thought they were police officers if they suddenly started to assault you? I thought they were criminals trying to get my organs to sell."
Police said they received a tip about a voice phishing scam that had already cheated a victim of several million won.
"We received a tip that the scammers called the victim again to bring more money to the Oksu station," a police official said.
"At the time, there appeared to be no one except this man, who was standing at the supposed drop."
The official said police tried to arrest the man peacefully, but he resisted.
The official said police identified themselves, but the man did not hear because he was wearing earphones.
Police apologized to the man the next day and said they would hold an internal investigation into the affair.
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