Even After Graduation, 20-Somethings Pretending to Be 'Iljin'... Threatening and Extorting Classmates

Repeatedly Committing Fraud, Extortion, and Threats Against Disabled Victims
Causing Disturbances at the Convenience Store Where the Victim Works After Being Reported

In their 20s, individuals who were so-called 'iljin' during their school days continued to threaten their classmates and extort money through fraud even after graduating from high school, resulting in prison sentences and fines. They also exploited information linkage between financial institutions for their crimes.

On the 28th, the 11th Criminal Division of the Gwangju District Court (Presiding Judge Go Sang-Young) announced that Yongmo (20), who was indicted on charges of fraud, extortion, and retaliatory threats, was sentenced to two years in prison. Among them, accomplice Baek (20) was fined 3 million won. Both had been active as iljin who committed school violence since middle school. The victims were their school classmates who had been bullied since their school days. Yongmo and Baek were indicted for committing fraud and extortion against five victims, including those with disabilities, even after graduating from school, seizing money and valuables.

Yong and others exploited the victim's fear to open mobile phones in the victim's name. They then used the opened mobile phones and confiscated identification cards to open new bank accounts and siphoned off approximately 4 million won from the victim's deposits through related account information.
[Photo by Asia Economy]

Yongmo and others exploited the victims' fear by opening mobile phones under the victims' names. They then used the opened mobile phones and confiscated identification cards to open new bank accounts and siphoned off about 4 million won from the victims' deposits through linked account information. They also took out an internet loan of 5 million won under the victims' names and sold the mobile phones opened under the victims' names.

At first, the victim thought Baek had defrauded them and asked Yongmo for help, but Yongmo pretended to assist the victim while threatening other nearby victims to lend money, thereby expanding the scope of the crimes. Using this method, Yongmo embezzled a total of 70 million won from five victims. Baek also siphoned off 1.5 million won.

When some of the victims reported the fraud to the police, Yongmo visited the convenience store where the victim worked, caused a disturbance, and threatened to harm the victim's parents as well. The court stated, "The crime is particularly heinous as it targeted socially vulnerable individuals with intellectual or hearing disabilities to gain economic benefits through fraud and extortion," adding, "Baek reached a settlement with the victims and was fined, but since the victims petitioned for punishment against Yongmo, a prison sentence was imposed."