Asked to Borrow 5,000 Won, Then Secretly Transferred 9 Million Won... The Method of the Taxi Passenger Revealed

A man in his 20s who secretly transferred 9 million won to his own account using a taxi driver's mobile phone was handed over to the prosecution.

On the 29th, the Seongnam Jungwon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province announced that they had sent Mr. A, a man in his 20s, to prosecution under detention on the 14th on charges including computer-related fraud. Mr. A is accused of boarding a taxi in Jungwon-gu, Seongnam City, around 4 a.m. on the 10th and using the 70-year-old driver Mr. B’s mobile phone to transfer 9 million won to his own account.

At that time, Mr. A rode Mr. B’s taxi and traveled for about five hours to places including Songdo in Incheon and Jongno in Seoul. During the trip, Mr. A asked Mr. B, "Please lend me 5,000 won; I will pay you back immediately," and received the money via transfer. While Mr. B was using a mobile banking app, Mr. A memorized the login password. Later, Mr. A asked to borrow Mr. B’s phone again, received it, and secretly transferred a total of 9 million won to his own account in multiple transactions.

Mr. A (right) committing the crime inside the taxi. [Image source=Gyeonggi Seongnam Jungwon Police Station]

After getting off the taxi, Mr. A even called Mr. B’s taxi again to try to withdraw additional money remaining in Mr. B’s account. However, Mr. B had already noticed that several million won had been withdrawn from his account after checking his phone.

Mr. B immediately reported to the police, and officers who arrived at the scene arrested Mr. A on the spot. It was confirmed that during the taxi ride, Mr. A committed fraud involving secondhand transactions not only against Mr. B but also against an unspecified number of people. Additionally, it was found that there had been eight prior reports against Mr. A for offenses such as fare evasion before this incident.

A police official stated, “This is a case where the suspect committed the same type of crime while already undergoing trial for multiple fraud offenses,” and added, “The fraud involving secondhand transactions against an unspecified number of people was also combined and sent to prosecution.”