“I’m going to register my marriage”… BJ receives probation for stealing a large amount of money under the pretext of marriage

78 million won stolen through ‘romance scam’ method

A woman in her 30s who defrauded her victim of tens of millions of won under the pretext of marriage was sentenced to probation.

Incheon District Court Criminal Division 7 Judge Moon Jong-cheol sentenced A, a woman accused of fraud, to 10 months in prison and two years of probation and ordered her to perform 120 hours of community service.

Mr. A is a streaming platform BJ, and was accused of embezzling 78 million won from his ex-boyfriend, Mr. B, from March 2022 to June of the following year.

They dated since 2016 and broke up around 2019, but three years later, Mr. A contacted Mr. B again and began demanding money, saying, "I need money due to an unreasonable business."

Afterwards, Mr. A even urged Mr. B to take out a loan, saying, “You can just get married and live together and pay it back.” However, at the time, it was revealed that Mr. A was already married to a man other than Mr. B.

The court ruled that Mr. A’s actions were intentional. The court pointed out that “the defendant deceived the victim into thinking that he was in a romantic relationship with the victim on the premise of marriage,” and that it was “a crime that took advantage of a personal relationship of trust.” He continued, “The period of the crime was long, the amount of damage was considerable, and the damage was not fully recovered.”

However, the court added that it decided the sentence taking into account the fact that Mr. A acknowledged and reflected on his crime and the fact that he reached an agreement with Mr. B.

Daeryun Law Firm (Yuhan), which served as Mr. B's legal representative, said, "Mr. A had no intention of dating, let alone marrying, the victim, but he deceived the victim into thinking that he would register the marriage once the financial issues were resolved. This is a typical case of a romance scam."

At the same time, he explained, "He stole a large amount of money by taking advantage of the victim's goodwill toward him in a situation where he had no ability or will to repay, which clearly constitutes fraud under the criminal law." He added, "It appears that the court also recognized this and found him guilty."

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