"Eoreushin, Can I Use Your Phone?" Elderly Smartphone Novices Targeted by Motel Owners... Over 40 Million Won Lost to Small Payment Fraud

Busan Sasang Police Station Arrests Man in His 30s for Extorting Game Money by Borrowing Smartphones at Nationwide Lodgings

Busan Sasang Police Station.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Mr. A, a man in his 30s without a job, targeted only elderly people who were not proficient in using smartphones. All the elderly were running motels. Mr. A chose people who were easy to approach while staying at the motel as his crime targets.

"My phone screen is broken, can I borrow your phone for a moment, sir?"

Last January, a motel owner in his 60s in Sasang-gu, Busan, readily lent his smartphone after hearing the request from guest Mr. A.

Mr. A showed his cracked phone screen and borrowed the motel owner's smartphone several times.

Mr. A, who stayed at this motel for three days, reassured the owner by talking about a "long-term stay." What he was actually after was the smartphone.

After lending the phone, the owner received multiple small payment messages that he did not authorize, which made him suspicious and report to the police.

Mr. A said he was going out for a quick smoke but fled. The motel owner was left alone with a smartphone that had accumulated small payment charges totaling 1,580,000 won.

Mr. A committed similar crimes using the same method at more than 20 lodging businesses in Sasang-gu, Busan, Jinju, and Tongyeong, Gyeongnam, over the course of a year starting from January last year.

The victims were 26 elderly lodging business owners, and the total amount he stole reached 45,350,000 won.

He selected elderly lodging business owners who were not proficient in using smartphones, borrowed their phones, and made small payments for game money such as internet poker or Go-Stop under the victims' names.

After exchanging the game money purchased with small payments under the victims' names into cash, he asked them to transfer the money back to his account, claiming it was money sent from the company, thus putting the money into his own hands.

The Sasang Police Station in Busan tracked Mr. A and made an emergency arrest at a lodging business in Daejeon. On the 11th, the police announced that Mr. A was detained on charges of computer and other usage fraud.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.