"Middle East Dispatched Doctor" Romance Scam Perpetrator Identity... 66-Year-Old Man [Seocho-dong Legal Story]

Approaching with Fake Messenger and SNS Accounts, Building Rapport and Demanding Money
Five Romance Scam Victims, Total Damage of About 25.8 Million Won
First Trial: "Elderly, Confession and Remorse"... 10-Month Prison Sentence

"Hello. I am working as a doctor in Iraq." (Around January 2021)
"I established an orphanage in Iraq under my daughter's name, please help." (May 11, 2021)
"There is a war, and to be discharged I have to pay a general. I will pay you back when I get to Korea, so please send me money." (May 26, 2021)

Mr. 'K', a doctor. A man dispatched to work in Iraq. He first approached Mr. A via KakaoTalk messenger in January last year, introducing himself this way. Contact continued, and he frequently expressed affection. In May of the same year, he asked for money to support an orphanage in Iraq and money needed for discharge. Mr. A sent a total of 4.5 million KRW in two installments.

All were lies. Mr. K was actually Mr. Lee (66, male), who worked domestically as a caregiver, not overseas nor as a doctor. At the same time, he was the remittance agent for a so-called 'romance scam' criminal organization. Romance scams involve hacking or creating fake social media accounts overseas, randomly contacting victims living in Korea, developing intimate relationships such as friends or lovers to gain trust, and then extorting money.

Mr. Lee frequently changed his identity to a military doctor dispatched to Iran, a doctor working in Yemen, a soldier in the U.S., and so on, and was investigated to have defrauded a total of about 25.8 million KRW from five victims including Mr. A. He kept 200,000 to 300,000 KRW per transaction as allowance and converted the rest into cryptocurrency to remit to the organization's leader.

The prosecution indicted Mr. Lee on charges including fraud and violation of the Electronic Financial Transactions Act. He was also charged with defrauding 2.08 million KRW in January last year by deceiving that "there is about 8 billion USD (8.7 trillion KRW) overseas, and a fee is needed to bring it into the country; if you lend me money, I will return as much as needed," and for sending a check card and its password registered under his name overseas by courier to a third party in the Philippines.

According to the legal community on the 6th, Judge Byun Min-seon of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 10 found all charges against Mr. Lee guilty and sentenced him to 10 months in prison.

The court stated the sentencing reasons: "The amount of fraud damage cannot be considered large, and the benefits the defendant gained from each crime do not seem significant," and "considering that the defendant is a 66-year-old elderly person, has confessed, and is remorseful." The court also added, "Even if severe punishment is necessary, the sentence must be proportionate to the defendant's responsibility for the act and the resulting consequences." This implies that responsibility should be based on the act committed, not the outcome. The court also dismissed all compensation claims from victims including Mr. A.

Both the prosecution and Mr. Lee appealed the first trial verdict.

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