Impersonating Employees to Sell Electronics... Embezzling Hundreds of Millions from Customers and Fleeing Abroad

Pretending to Be an Employee Even After Dispatch Period Ended
More Than 10 Victims and Over 200 Million Won in Damages

A former large home appliance mart salesperson continued to pose as an employee even after the dispatch period ended and embezzled several hundred million won worth of payment for goods received from customers, prompting police to launch a manhunt.

According to CBS No Cut News on the 12th, Mr. A, a salesperson in his 40s at a large home appliance mart in Masanhappo-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongnam, is accused of embezzling 14 million won in payment for home appliances such as refrigerators and vacuum cleaners from customer Mr. B in June. Although Mr. A’s dispatch ended in March, he entered the store with Mr. B, whom he met outside the store in June, three months later and looked around the products.

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Mr. A carried out a fraudulent scheme by inducing Mr. B to pay with a mix of cash and cards inside the store. Additionally, during the payment process, Mr. A made Mr. B pay with a card under his name and deceived him by saying the payment would be canceled in a few days, using discounts as a pretext to make a duplicate payment with another card, then intercepted the payment in the middle. When the products that were supposed to arrive last month did not come to his home and contact with Mr. A suddenly ceased, Mr. B filed a complaint with the police and also reported the damage to the mart.

Mr. B is not the only victim of this method. More than 10 victims have reported fraud by Mr. A to the police, and the total damage amount is known to exceed 200 million won. After the dispatch ended, Mr. A continued to impersonate an employee and commit fraud, but when it seemed his crimes would be exposed, he quit the dispatch company and fled overseas. The Changwon Western Police Station has booked Mr. A without detention on charges including fraud and is investigating, but is facing difficulties due to Mr. A’s escape abroad.

Separately, the mart is also conducting a fact-finding investigation. The mart is investigating whether Mr. A committed fraud inside the store even before the dispatch ended, when the first damage occurred, the exact number of victims, and the specific fraudulent methods used.

Meanwhile, similar crimes using comparable methods have occurred in the past.

In 2021, Mr. C, an employee at a home appliance agency in Incheon, was accused of fraud after deceiving customers by promising to convert points earned from purchasing products into cash and embezzling the payment for goods. At that time, 22 victims claimed, "Mr. C proposed to give cash for points earned when purchasing products at the agency," and "He said if we paid the product cost in advance, he would cancel the purchase later and refund the money along with the points, but he neither refunded the product cost nor provided the points after receiving the payment." The total damage amount was about 1.03 billion won.

Also, in 2022, a post appeared on an internet community claiming fraud at a famous home appliance store in a large department store in Daegu. The author, Mr. D, visited the store before his wedding, consulted with an employee, and purchased 14 home appliance items worth 31 million won. He paid 18 million won by card and transferred the remaining 13 million won to an account provided by the employee.

When some appliances did not arrive on the promised delivery date, Mr. D contacted the employee, who apologized and said, "Sorry, there is a large volume now, so it will take some time (for delivery). It is due to the courier strike," and then cut off contact. Eventually, Mr. D contacted the store, but the store claimed to be unaware of the products paid for by cash transfer and only said, "Everything has already been delivered." After Mr. D’s post, others with similar damage also appeared.

To avoid such damage, when purchasing expensive home appliances, it is advisable to avoid transactions through personal accounts as much as possible, and if cash payments are induced through point payments or other means, it is necessary to carefully verify rather than simply trusting the salesperson’s words.