"40-Year-Old Man Who Hid Name, Job, and Children to Scam Women Out of 1.4 Billion Won"

Pretending to Be Single, Forged Bank Account with 1.4 Billion Won Balance
Deceived Victim's Family with Fake Family Certificate
Held Fake Wedding and Embezzled 180 Million Won

A married man in his 40s who pretended to be single despite being married with children, committing marriage fraud and extorting about 200 million won from the woman involved, has been brought to trial.

The Criminal Division 3 of Suwon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kim Seong-won) has reported that Mr. A was arrested and indicted on charges of fraud and forgery of official documents, according to Yonhap News on the 20th.

Mr. A, in his 40s with children, was indicted on charges of deceiving a woman in her 30s, Ms. B, by lying about his name, occupation, marital status, and whether he had children, pretending to be single, and embezzling 184.3 million won from her between February 2016 and January 2017 under the pretext of gym operation expenses.

In the second half of 2017, he held a fake wedding ceremony with Ms. B and, in the process, forged a bankbook to make it appear as if there was about 1.44 billion won in the account to reassure her.

Mr. A also did not properly register the marriage after the wedding and was found to have shown a forged family relation certificate to Ms. B’s family, who were suspicious of his identity.

Ms. B reportedly discovered the full extent of the fraud when, after Mr. A stopped coming home regularly and was unreachable, she contacted another woman who had been victimized by Mr. A using a similar method.

Previously, the police had forwarded the case with a recommendation for indictment without detention only on the fraud charges against Mr. A. Subsequently, the prosecution conducted supplementary investigations and uncovered additional charges of forgery of the bankbook and family relation certificate. Considering the seriousness of the crimes and concerns about flight risk and evidence destruction, Mr. A was detained and then indicted.

A prosecution official stated, "We have requested victim support from the Crime Victim Support Center," and added, "We will thoroughly maintain the prosecution to ensure that the defendant receives punishment commensurate with the crime."