"‘No Money for Parents' Hospital Bills'... 20s Sentenced for Defrauding High School Friend of 10.5 Million Won"

A man in his 20s who deceived a high school classmate into lending him 10.5 million won for his parents' hospital bills was sentenced to prison.

According to the legal community on the 12th, Judge Heo Myeong-san of the Criminal Division 12 at the Seoul Northern District Court sentenced A (21) to six months in prison on the 3rd for charges of fraud. The court explained the sentencing by stating, "Although this is a first offense, the crime was planned by exploiting the trust of the victim, a high school classmate, making the nature of the crime serious. Furthermore, there has been no attempt to restore the damages, and the victim wishes for the defendant to be punished."

A was charged with receiving 10.5 million won in six installments from the victim, a high school classmate, via social networking service (SNS) messenger in September 2021, claiming, "My parents were seriously injured and hospital bills are overdue. If you lend me 4 million won, I will repay it by the end of September after taking out a loan."

However, A was a credit delinquent with a large amount of debt at the time and was struggling to repay existing debts, showing no intention or ability to repay the borrowed money. It was also investigated that after filing for personal rehabilitation in November of the same year, A told the victim not to demand further repayment.