Can I report the crime of identity theft?

The case you asked about may be regarded as a crime related to identity theft.

However, there is no separate offense called the "crime of identity theft," and the act of stealing another person's identity may, depending on the case, be punished as a violation of the Resident Registration Act, a violation of the Personal Information Protection Act, or the crime of fraud under the Criminal Act.

In particular, as you mentioned, where a third party impersonates you and demands money, a criminal complaint for the crime of fraud under the Criminal Act may be possible.

However, for the crime of fraud to be established, the offender must have deceived another and thereby obtained a pecuniary benefit, so it must be proven that money or goods were actually taken or that a benefit was actually obtained.

The statutory penalty for the crime of fraud is prescribed as imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine of up to 20 million won, and it can be punished quite heavily.

In addition, even if the other party did not actually obtain the money, if there was an attempt or preparation to obtain a pecuniary benefit, there is a possibility of punishment as an attempted fraud offender under Article 352 of the Criminal Act, but this requires legal review.

Therefore, it is important that you preserve, in their original form, the fact of the identity theft along with the contents of the conversations from the impersonating account, the circumstances of the money transfer demand, and the account information.

To summarize, in your case a criminal complaint for the crime of fraud is possible depending on the circumstances, and to prevent further harm from identity theft, we recommend a prompt response.