Singer Seong Hyeon-woo. [Instagram capture]
Singer Seong Hyeon-woo. [Instagram capture]

Seong Hyeon-woo, a singer and former member of the group Limitless, has spoken publicly about a brush with jeonse fraud — a housing scam involving rental deposits — and the psychological toll it took on him.

In a video posted to his YouTube channel Monday, Seong looked back on his time renting a jeonse apartment in Mokdong, Yangcheon-gu, Seoul in 2023.

He said he had taken out his first jeonse loan to secure a home in Seoul and initially felt satisfied, but the happiness did not last. After moving in, he faced a string of setbacks — including a lawsuit with his agency over an exclusive contract — and was eventually diagnosed with depression.

"While living in that apartment, I even got into three car accidents," Seong said. "I kept wondering, 'Why do all these bad things keep happening to me?' and things just kept getting worse."

Determined to move out, Seong notified his landlord six months before the lease expired that he would not be renewing. The landlord, however, told him that no new tenants were willing to move into the area because of the jeonse fraud cases that had become a major social issue at the time, and asked Seong to help find a replacement tenant.

Anxious about not getting his deposit back, Seong began searching for a new tenant himself — but the landlord cut off all contact three months before the lease was up.

"At first I thought, 'Maybe they're just busy, they'll get back to me,' but two weeks went by with no reply," he said. "I hadn't taken out deposit insurance either, so I was going absolutely crazy."

He added that he never imagined he would fall victim to jeonse fraud, but that with the help of his stylist, he managed to track down the landlord's office after searching all over Mokdong.

Seong later learned that the landlord had been struggling to secure tenants across multiple properties. After working together with the landlord to find a new renter, they eventually succeeded and he was able to move out, he added.

Seong offered words of encouragement to his fans. "After going through all those hardships, my heart grew stronger — nothing can easily break me anymore," he said. "When things are tough, tell yourself, 'Someday I'll find my footing too,' and if you keep living with that positive mindset, things will change."

Seong had earlier revealed that in 2021, he received a death threat at a restaurant on Jeju Island after stepping in to stop a man who was verbally abusing a foreign employee.

He managed to flee and reported the incident to police. The man was detained about three months later and sentenced to prison on charges of aggravated intimidation.

Seong first gained public recognition through his appearance on Mnet's "Produce 101" Season 2 in 2017. After promoting with Limitless, he released his first solo digital single, "Miryeon Eopseo," in 2021.


betterj@heraldcorp.com