The Fate of a Married Day Laborer Who Posed as a Prominent Businessman and Deceived a Woman with False Promises of Marriage

Six-Year Prison Sentence for Man in His 40s Who Swindled Over 1.2 Billion Won

A man in his 40s who pretended to be wealthy and deceived a woman into believing he would marry her, extracting over 1.2 billion won, has been sentenced to prison.

On October 8, Yonhap News reported that the 12th Criminal Division of the Daejeon District Court (Presiding Judge Kim Byungman) sentenced Mr. A (48), who was indicted on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes (fraud), to six years in prison.

Daejeon Court exterior. Photo by Yonhap News

Mr. A gained the trust of Ms. B, whom he met through a dating application, by introducing himself as a prominent businessman. He then deceived her into believing they would marry, and from 2021 to 2024, he obtained approximately 850 million won from her. He was brought to trial on these charges.

Mr. A is also accused of using a credit card in Ms. B’s name for about 409 million won. He deceived the victim by saying, "My money is tied up in the company, but I will repay you once the company work is finished," and "Since we are going to get married, please lend me your credit card." In reality, Mr. A was revealed to be a daily wage worker at a construction site and a married man with children.

The court stated, "Although the defendant has confessed to the crime and is showing remorse, the amount of profit is around 1.2 billion won, making the scale of the crime very large and the duration lengthy."

The court further explained, "We considered the fact that the defendant actively deceived the victim, that none of the damages have been recovered, that he has previous convictions for similar offenses, and that some of those offenses were committed using similar methods, which increases the risk of recidivism."

Previously, last month, a man and a woman in a common-law relationship were also sentenced to prison after pretending to be siblings and deceiving a victim into believing they would marry, thereby obtaining tens of millions of won. The two were accused of luring the victim with the promise of marriage and defrauding them of a total of approximately 81 million won over about 1 year and 4 months, from May 2018 to September 2019.