"Even a 60s Monk Lost 300 Million Won" Celebrity Impersonation Investment Chat Room Scams Persist

Investment Scam Impersonating Comedian Manager, 1.5 Billion Won in Damages
Police Launch Full Investigation, 40 Cases Reported

As investment scams impersonating celebrities run rampant, it has been revealed that a monk in his 60s who operates a temple in Gyeonggi-do also suffered losses amounting to several hundred million won.

On the 1st, Yonhap News reported that the National Police Agency recently designated the Criminal Mobile Unit of the Incheon Police Agency as the focused investigation office and launched a full-scale investigation into a group including ‘Han Woohee (alias)’, known as a comedian’s manager. There have been about 40 reports of damage related to the ‘Han Woohee group’. The amount of damage identified so far reaches around 1.5 billion won.

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Among them was Mr. A, a monk in his 60s who operates a temple in Gyeonggi-do. In December last year, he heard on TV that a famous comedian, Mr. B, had made a large sum of money through stock investment. Afterwards, related posts featuring Mr. B frequently appeared online. Eventually, Mr. A joined a ‘Band’ operated by a portal site.

‘Han Woohee’, who introduced himself as Mr. B’s manager, told about 50 participants in the chat room, “Comedian Mr. B has 300 billion won,” and “If members invest, combined with Mr. B’s money, you can buy unlisted stocks at 150,000 won per share. If it goes public in a week, the price per share will exceed 250,000 won.” From February 5th, Mr. A deposited 300 million won, including 230 million won borrowed from acquaintances, over the course of a month.

A few days later, the manager claimed that the stock price had risen significantly, making the principal and profits total 2.98 billion won. When Mr. A asked to receive the principal and profits as dividends, the manager demanded, “To withdraw 2.9 billion won, which is 90% of the total, you must first send 290 million won to the account.” At this point, sensing something suspicious, Mr. A informed his acquaintances about the stock investment, and only then did he realize it was a celebrity impersonation investment scam.

Mr. A said, “I invested with money I had saved little by little, and if I made a profit, I planned to use it for temple repair work and temple events,” adding, “I never dreamed it was a scam.” He recalled, “Looking back now, the manager name ‘Han Woohee’ was fake, and the ID card and business registration certificate he sent were all forged. He even begged me, ‘Please save me.’”

From September last year to February this year, there have been about 2,500 cases of illegal activities in investment leading chat rooms, including ‘celebrity impersonation scams’. The amount of damage is 230 billion won. The ‘Association for Solving Celebrity Impersonation Online Phishing Crimes’ (hereafter Yusamo), which includes broadcaster Song Eunyi, star lecturer Kim Mikyung, John Lee (former CEO of Meritz Asset Management), Joo Jinhyung (former CEO of Hanwha Investment & Securities), comedian-turned-investor Hwang Hyunhee, and lawyer Han Sangjun as members, estimated the scale of celebrity impersonation crimes at an accumulated average of 1 trillion won. The average damage per victim is between 150 million and 300 million won. It is understood that 1 to 2 people per week are extorted of 1 to 3 billion won or more.