Romance scammers who exploited South Korean targets have reportedly swindled over 45 billion won ($32 million) from victims in the first half of this year. This information emerged for the first time as South Korean police started monitoring the impact of these fraudsters this year.
On Tuesday, the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) disclosed that 628 cases of romance scams were reported to law enforcement officials between February and June. About half of these cases were reported in the past two months. These criminal activities resulted in financial losses totaling 45.4 billion won ($33 million), with nearly 25% of the losses occurring in March.
According to the police, the scammers targeted their victims through fake social media accounts, creating the illusion of a romantic relationship. After earning their victims’ affection and trust, they would request financial support. This often included asking victims to pay customs fees in advance on their behalf. In addition to this, the criminals extorted money by offering fraudulent investment opportunities, asking victims to exchange online points for cash, or by requesting funds for plane tickets and living expenses.
The disclosure follows the decision by South Korean police to investigate the damage caused by these swindlers in detail, starting this year. The KNPA announced last March that they would intensify efforts to combat ten types of fraudulent crimes. Among these, romance scams were newly included, alongside investment scams and smishing, due to their increased prevalence following advancements in communication and financial technologies.
An official from the Financial Crime Investigation Section at the KNPA said, “Romance scams are being handled by the cyber investigation division. We are investigating romance scams because they share similar characteristics with investment scams, in that both involve perpetrators abusing their victims’ trust to extort money.”
South Korea has seen a rise in romance scams over the past five years. According to the country’s intelligence agency, which tracks cross-border fraud reports, 16 cases were detected in 2019 and 93 cases were reported in 2023. The financial damage has also increased more than fivefold during this period, rising from 830 million won ($600,000) in 2019 to 4.8 billion won ($3.5 million) in 2023.
Related article: Swindlers ripped off romance scam victims, pretending to be ethical hackers
Two fraudsters who conspired to extort romance scam victims and succeeded in draining their targets of hundreds of thousands of dollars were indicted by South Korean law enforcement. It was revealed that one of the accused had disguised himself as a fellow victim when contacting genuine scam victims and introducing them to the other scammer whom he colluded with.
The Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office announced on Monday that they indicted two males who had committed fraud against romance scam victims. According to the prosecutors, the swindlers ripped off 23 victims, extorting 930,000,000 won (approximately 725,000 dollars), from April of last year to March of this year.
The 31-year-old male, one of the accused, searched for his targets through an application that was developed for scam victims to share their stories. Once he found a target, he approached them disguised as a scam victim and claimed that he had recovered his losses with the help of a white hat hacker. The other accused man, a 25-year-old male who portrayed himself as an ethical hacker, then asked the targets to pay a fee for the process of recovery, which required hacking the scammers’ network.
To earn the trust of the victims, the fraudsters in some cases gave their targets some of the promised money by revolving other victims’ paid fees. Furthermore, they emphasized to the victims that their technique, which involved hacking, was illegal in order to prevent them from notifying law enforcement. When a victim appeared at the 25-year-old suspect’s residence to recover his damages, the victim was physically beaten by the accused, according to the prosecutors. READ MORE
