MBC 'Silhwatamsadae' Romance Scam Story Report
Victim Says "Sent to a Friend... Not a Fraud"
An 80-year-old wealthy woman with real estate assets worth over 10 billion won was scammed out of 1.5 billion won by a foreign man under the pretense of a romantic relationship (romance scam). The victimized woman has been denying the fraud, claiming, "It was not a scam; I sent money to a friend."
In a recent episode of MBC's 'True Story Expedition,' the story of romance scam victim Ms. A (82, female) was featured under the title "82-Year-Old Mother's Dangerous Last Love." The tip-off came from Ms. A's son, who pleaded with the show, "Please save my mother."
The victim's family introduced Ms. A as a wealthy individual who succeeded in real estate investments and owned commercial buildings in Guro-dong and Cheonho-dong, Seoul. Ms. A's son said that there was between 1 to 2 billion won in rental income in his mother's bank account. Around March to April last year, he received a call from the bank saying, "It seems your mother has been a victim of voice phishing." The police confirmed deposits into Ms. A's account from a so-called "ghost account" during their investigation. However, Ms. A insisted, "I was not scammed; I sent money to a friend."
The person Ms. A identified as her friend was Dr. Franklin Jo, a doctor in his 50s from Yemen. Franklin Jo and Ms. A met through social networking services (SNS). He sent Ms. A his photo, in which Jo appeared as a handsome man with a well-built physique and a southern Korean appearance. He actively expressed affection by sending messages like "You are my angel" and "I love you," and their relationship soon developed into a romantic one.
One day, Jo told Ms. A, "I have acquired a money box from a hostile regime. I want to send it to Korea, but I need a fee," and asked to borrow 30 million won. Ms. A sent the money, and when the account receiving the funds was revealed to be a ghost account, her family became aware of the scam. Ms. A's son checked the remittance details and found that she had sent nearly 1 billion won to Jo. However, Ms. A did not believe her family's claims of fraud and ignored warnings from a commercial tenant who said Jo was "a person who does not actually exist." Over the course of a year, the amount Ms. A sent to Jo kept increasing, eventually reaching 1.5 billion won. In March, she even sent 500 million won from the death insurance payout of her youngest daughter, who had passed away.
Attorney Jihoon Park explained on the broadcast, "The average loss from romance scams is 70 million won, but 1.5 billion won is more than 20 times the average. According to one report, 1.38 billion won is the largest known loss from a romance scam. This case appears to be the largest romance scam in terms of amount."
The production team investigated the true identity of 'Jo.' The person in the photo sent by Jo was identified as a famous doctor in T?rkiye. Married, he expressed on the broadcast, "I do not want to be involved in such matters," and claimed to be a victim of identity theft.
Ms. A's son said that despite the massive loss of around 1.5 billion won, the police investigation has been sluggish. Because romance scams are conducted via overseas servers, it is difficult to catch the perpetrators and provide relief to victims. Professor Junbae Seo of the Korean National Police University stated, "As far as I know, Korea is the only country with a fraud prevention center that does not freeze accounts related to romance scams." Unlike voice phishing, romance scams are not subject to the Electronic Financial Transactions Act, so there is no legal basis to freeze the victim's accounts.
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