A man in his 30s who defrauded 9 people of hundreds of millions of won through a 'romance scam'... sentenced to 6 years in prison

A man I met through an app showed off his wealth to gain favor and recommend investment.
The court said, “He committed the crime while on probation for a similar crime… he needs to be severely punished.”

A man who stole hundreds of millions of won by taking advantage of someone he found out through a smartphone application was sentenced to prison.

According to the legal community on the 10th, the Jeonju District Court sentenced Mr. A, in his 30s, to six years in prison on charges of fraud on the 26th of last month.

Mr. A is accused of stealing about 400 million won by contacting nine people, including Mr. B, whom he met through a smartphone app over a period of one year starting in 2023.

As a result of the investigation, Mr. A approached the victims by showing off his wealth, gained their favor, and then encouraged them to invest.

Prosecutors believe that Mr. A committed this crime for the purpose of repaying personal debt.

During the trial, the victims pleaded for severe punishment, claiming that Mr. A had been delaying repayment day after day, saying he would repay the money.

The court said, “The defendant deceived multiple victims and defrauded them of a large amount of money,” and added, “Above all, he committed the crime while on probation for a similar crime, so he needs to be severely punished.”

He then stated the reason for sentencing, saying, "The defendant also paid swindled money to some victims as a way to prevent them from committing additional crimes. It is difficult to evaluate that he has purely restored the damage to the victims, and he was not forgiven by most of the victims."

Attorney Lee Jae-hyung of the Daeryun Law Firm, who was in charge of legal representation for the victim, Mr. B, explained, "Mr. A created expectations by making it seem like he would return some of the swindled money, thereby preventing them from reporting it to the investigative agency. This was an act that caused additional damage to the victims, and the court appears to have judged this situation to be very poor and imposed severe punishment."

Shin Min-ji (sourminjee@ikbc.co.kr)

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A man in his 30s who defrauded nine people of hundreds of millions of won through a 'romance scam'... sentenced to 6 years in prison (link)