A fitness class. This photo is not directly related to the article. [123rf]
A fitness class. This photo is not directly related to the article. [123rf]

A man in his 50s who posed as a chaebol family member to defraud a woman he met at a fitness center has been sentenced to prison in a first-instance ruling, after swindling her out of about 177.96 million won ($120,000).

Seoul Southern District Court Judge Han Jeong-seok sentenced the man, identified only as A, 58, to three years in prison on July 22 after convicting him on fraud charges.

A first met the victim, identified as B, in 2020 when he enrolled as a student at her Pilates studio in Guro-gu, Seoul. He presented himself to B as a senior executive at a major conglomerate and a member of a chaebol family, and the two became romantically involved in September 2021.

B, who was preparing for a divorce, told A that her husband had claimed to have ended an extramarital affair and applied for a workplace transfer, but that the transfer had not gone through. A told her he had looked into it and that her husband had never filed for a transfer at all.

A then proposed hiring a licensed private investigator to verify whether the husband had truly ended the affair, offering to pass along the fees — which he said ranged from 80,000 won to 1 million won per day.

Between October 2021 and September 2022, A collected a total of 177.96 million won from B across 72 transactions, under the pretense of covering detective fees and judge referral costs. B borrowed money from family members and even took out credit card loans to send him the funds, according to investigators.

A did not use the money for detective services or any related purpose, spending it instead on personal living expenses. Prosecutors determined he had never intended to hire a private investigator or introduce B to a judge, and indicted him on fraud charges.

A denied the charges, claiming he had not lied to B and that the money she sent was repayment of loans he had made to her. The court rejected his defense and found him guilty based on the evidence.

"Even after serving a prison sentence for fraud, A committed the same type of offense again during the recidivism period," the court said in explaining the sentence. "He deliberately committed the crime after gaining the victim's trust by posing as a member of a chaebol family."

The court added, however, that it had taken into account the fact that A had transferred about 52.45 million won back to B after the offenses, representing partial restitution.


bbo@heraldcorp.com