"Sell YouTube Account for 3 Billion Won" Display of Wealth
Gambling by Obtaining Money Under the Pretext of Business Funds
A man in his 30s who deceived acquaintances out of more than 10 billion won by claiming to be a famous YouTuber with 1 million subscribers was sentenced to prison.
On the 28th, the Criminal Division 1 of Daegu District Court Seobu Branch (Chief Judge Im Dong-han) announced that former YouTuber A (30), who was indicted on charges of fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison.
A, who had about 1 million YouTube subscribers and ran a cosmetics company, was brought to trial on charges of embezzling approximately 11.36 billion won from eight people he met through his YouTube activities between January and May 2021 under the pretext of business funds. During his YouTube career, he posted so-called 'justice implementation' content involving personal revenge and videos of donating hospital fees on his channel, earning him the nickname 'icon of good deeds.'
When A became addicted to online gambling and needed money, he flaunted his wealth to the victims by saying, "Just selling an account with 1 million subscribers is worth over 3 billion won, and it can generate 30 million won in two months," and extorted money from them multiple times.
The court pointed out, "The defendant committed a very serious crime by embezzling a large sum of money over a long period from many victims who trusted him as a famous YouTuber." It also explained the sentencing rationale, saying, "The sentence was determined considering that most of the damages have been compensated."
Separately, A was also indicted on charges of embezzling about 1.55 billion won from 12 victims and was sentenced to 5 years in prison in February last year.
There are other cases of famous YouTubers committing crimes against their channel subscribers.
In May, the Financial Investigation Division 1 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Chae Hee-man) conducted a focused investigation into four fraudulent unfair trading cases involving illegal 'stock leading' and indicted famous YouTuber Kim (54) without detention. Kim, a stock YouTuber with about 550,000 subscribers, earned trust among his subscribers, who called him 'Daejangnim' (Captain) or 'Gaehyungnim' (a shortened form of 'Super Ant Brother').
In a broadcast in June 2021, he repeatedly recommended buying stock A, which was priced in the low 30,000 won range, explaining, "It is not yet time to sell. The company is fine even if it goes above 40,000 won, 60,000 won, or 70,000 won." Retail investors trusted his words and bought stock A. However, Kim secretly held the stock without disclosing this to viewers and manipulated the stock price upward.
He engaged in so-called 'front-running,' selling stocks secretly at specific times to gain unfair profits, using his subscribers as 'volume absorbers' who bore the losses of front-running. The unfair profits Kim gained through this method amounted to about 5.8 billion won.
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