'Give me money and I'll recover what you're owed,' he told victims a second time

Court ruling [Herald DB]
Court ruling [Herald DB]

A man in his 30s who defrauded an acquaintance and her mother out of about 900 million won ($670,000) by fabricating a fictitious company chairman and promising lucrative employment has been sentenced to prison.

The Changwon District Court's Criminal Division 4, presided over by Judge Oh Dae-seok, sentenced the defendant, identified only as A, to four years in prison on charges including aggravated fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, according to legal sources Monday.

A is accused of swindling a total of 903.83 million won from his acquaintance, identified as B, and B's mother between October 2023 and December last year by invoking the name of a fabricated chairman of an equipment company.

The chairman he cited did not exist.

Investigators found that A deceived the victims by claiming the chairman was overseeing a major construction project and asking them to cover costs on his behalf, including association registration fees, membership dues and on-site deposits.

At one point, A impersonated the chairman himself to deceive B's mother. He then defrauded her a second time by promising that if she gave him more money, he would help her recover what she had already lost to A.

The court said it took into account that the amount swindled from the mother and daughter exceeded 900 million won, that most of it was spent on personal expenses including living costs and entertainment, and that the victims had suffered severe distress and petitioned for a heavy sentence.


jshan@heraldcorp.com