[Created using Google Gemini]
[Created using Google Gemini]

A man in his 60s — call him A — had been teaching himself about stocks through YouTube when he spotted an advertisement on a popular financial influencer's channel recruiting members for a "stock study group."

The group's operator told him it was launching a high-return project developed in partnership with brokerages and the government, promising a 600 percent return rate, and persuaded him to install a fake brokerage trading app.

Lured by the promised returns, A handed over his investment in cash and physical gold at an in-person meeting. When he eventually realized he had been scammed and tried to withdraw his money, he was ejected from the chat room and the fraudsters vanished.

His case is a textbook example of retirement savings lost in the pursuit of quick, outsized gains. Even as markets have swung between sharp rallies and steep selloffs, older Koreans in their 60s and 70s holding retirement funds have been taking on more debt to invest — driven by fear of missing out while ignoring the very real risk of being unable to repay loans or absorb losses.

Criminal organizations are now deliberately exploiting that psychology. Data submitted to People Power Party lawmaker Kim Sang-hoon by the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service has laid bare a pattern of sophisticated investment fraud targeting people in their 60s and older.

Victims in this age group face a particularly grim outlook because the money they lose is typically retirement savings they cannot replace. Those who have also drawn on margin financing could find themselves facing financial ruin in old age.

A man in his 70s — call him B — fell victim to a scam built around an unlisted company's initial public offering. A firm contacted B claiming it held shares in a company about to list and offering him the chance to buy those shares at a discount ahead of the IPO.

The fraudsters sharpened the pressure by telling members of a group chat that the opportunity would be offered on a first-come, first-served basis — a tactic designed to trigger the impulsive decision-making common among older investors. To put B at ease, they directed him to transfer money to what appeared to be a genuine brokerage account.

The day before the promised listing date, the chat room was deleted and the fraudsters disappeared. When B contacted the brokerage whose account details he had been given, staff told him similar cases were common and advised him to file a police report.

Fraud involving private trading platforms has also emerged as a threat. A man in his 60s — call him C — was introduced to a private trading firm through a YouTube broadcast and received a link by email to install a private trading program, through which he opened an account.

After transferring his investment, C carried out a series of overseas futures trades through the platform. When he eventually requested a withdrawal, the firm stalled with excuses about "system problems" before manipulating the platform to show the withdrawal as completed — then disappeared.

Industry insiders warn investors to be alert to fraud linked to unlicensed investment advisory services. An analysis of Financial Supervisory Service consumer complaint data showed that complaints related to unlicensed investment advisory fraud reached 94 cases through May this year, with a cumulative total of 4,333 cases recorded over the five years from 2021 to 2025. Over the same period, investment complaints tied to retirement or severance funds totaled 406 cases.

"You should be wary of any service that guarantees a minimum return, recommends individual stocks on a one-on-one basis, pushes you toward signing a contract through personal consultations, or asks you to install a separate application or program via a link," a brokerage official said.


jiyun@heraldcorp.com
hajun825@heraldcorp.com