A Man in His 40s Swindled 100 Million Won from Unmarried Women Using Marriage as Bait

Borrowed Money 136 Times Over 2 Years Using Marriage as Bait
Absent from Trial... "The Crime Is Quite Serious"

A man in his 40s who hid his marriage and dated an unmarried woman for 7 to 8 years, receiving over 100 million won under the pretense of marriage, was sentenced to prison.

On the 8th, Judge Jeong Sun-yeol of the Busan District Court Criminal Division 11 announced that A, who was indicted on charges of fraud, was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison.

According to the facts recognized by the court, from March 2020, A dated the victim and deceived her by saying, "All my accounts are frozen, so I can't work," and "I will use the money briefly and pay it back, so please lend me money," receiving 130,950,000 won over 136 times in about two years.

However, A was already heavily indebted to financial institutions and was known to have neither the ability nor intention to repay the money in the short term as promised.

The court explained, "The defendant concealed the fact that he was married and dated the unmarried victim for about 8 years since around 2015, and during the last two years of their relationship, he embezzled over 100 million won more than 100 times, which is a very serious offense."

It added, "The victim, dreaming of a happy married life, gave all her savings, money borrowed from family, and loans as instructed by the defendant, suffering severe economic and mental distress."

Furthermore, although the trial has been ongoing since January, A never appeared even once and did not show up on the sentencing day. Judge Jeong sentenced without the defendant’s statement as A’s whereabouts could not be confirmed for over six months.

The court stated the reasons for sentencing, "Considering that the defendant voluntarily absented himself from the trial and is currently missing, has multiple prior convictions for similar crimes, the victim and her family’s plea for severe punishment, and the Supreme Court’s sentencing guidelines."

The court plans to issue an arrest warrant to secure A’s custody.