A so-called ‘romance scam’ gang that deceived victims by pretending to be overseas dispatched doctors and others, building friendships, and then embezzling hundreds of millions of won has been caught by the police.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 21st that they have arrested 13 foreigners, including a 39-year-old Nigerian national identified as A, on charges of fraud and other offenses.
Since November last year, they are accused of impersonating U.S. military personnel, doctors, and entrepreneurs dispatched to Syria, building relationships with victims through social networking services (SNS), and then demanding money under various pretexts such as accident handling fees during business trips, unpaid wages, and customs clearance fees. They allegedly embezzled approximately 1.9 billion won in total from 30 victims over 251 transactions.
According to the police investigation, the victims were deceived due to emotional bonds formed through long-term SNS interactions, suffering losses ranging from several million won to as much as 300 million won. In particular, victim B transferred 315 million won in 64 installments this March after hearing from someone met via Instagram direct message (DM) that they had lost luggage during a business trip to Dubai and needed money because their bank account was frozen.
The police have identified the organization as a network consisting of an overseas coordinator who contacts victims, a domestic coordinator who manages domestic withdrawal agents under the overseas coordinator’s instructions, and withdrawal agents who withdraw the embezzled funds. Notably, the domestic coordinators and withdrawal agents are mainly Africans who entered the country on tourist visas and lived without regular jobs as illegal residents while participating in the crimes.
Furthermore, the accomplices communicated only through overseas chat applications that are difficult to trace, and used foreign nationals’ bank accounts as mule accounts after staying in Korea and then leaving for their home countries. After withdrawing the embezzled funds, they deleted related SNS chat histories, disposed of clothing worn during withdrawals, and thoroughly prepared to deny all crimes if caught, effectively evading law enforcement efforts.
A police official stated, “We will continue to verify additional crimes committed by the arrested members and persistently pursue the arrest of members operating domestically and internationally. We advise people not to expose too much personal information or private life details on SNS, and if someone met through SNS demands money, report it to the police or verify its connection to a crime.”
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