Tort Damages | A Damages Claim for Fraud Losses Resulting in a Judgment Granting the Full Amount

The client stated that the client had suffered damage from voice phishing fraud.

Voice phishing means luring out personal information by using voice and other means, and it is a type of fraud crime that uses electronic and telecommunications means to deceive a victim and cause property damage.

Voice phishing is also subject to the crime of fraud in that it obtains a pecuniary benefit by deceiving another person.

Under the Criminal Act, the crime of fraud is punishable by imprisonment for not more than 10 years or a fine not exceeding 20 million won.

However, where the amount of the benefit is 5 hundred million won or more, the punishment is aggravated to a higher level under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.

▶Where the amount of the benefit is 5 hundred million won or more but less than 5 billion won : imprisonment for a definite term of 3 years or more

▶Where the amount of the benefit is 5 billion won or more : life imprisonment or imprisonment for 5 years or more

To claim damages, the victim's loss must have arisen from a harmful act committed intentionally or negligently.

What is most important is that a causal relationship between the harmful act and the occurrence of the loss must be recognized.

For this reason, in a tort damages claim, evidence capable of proving the causal relationship between the harmful act and the occurrence of the loss must be collected in order to obtain a judgment granting the full amount claimed.

The 🔗damages lawsuit procedure is as follows.

The offender in this case received a proposal from a voice phishing organization member he came to know through an internet site and conspired to take on the role of a cash collector.

He then impersonated an employee of the Financial Supervisory Service and deceived the client into handing over cash.

Accordingly, he was sentenced to imprisonment for fraud and the sentence became final, but the court rejected the compensation order, finding it difficult to hold that the offender alone bore liability for compensation.

Under Article 750 of the Civil Act, a person who causes harm to another by an unlawful act committed intentionally or negligently is liable to compensate for that harm.

The firm asserted that, because the offender in this case caused harm to the client by a tort, the offender is liable to compensate for the harm and therefore must pay 70 million won.