TV·YouTube High-Profit Guaranteed Investment Experts? Beware of Blind Trust

If Phrases Like 'Guaranteed High Profit' Raise Suspicion of Fraud, Stop Transactions Immediately

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyun-joo] As interest in financial investment grows, more people are listening to advice from real estate and stock investment experts through TV and YouTube. Instagram and YouTube are flooded with related content such as "Guaranteed 5% daily profit" and "Secrets to turning 1 million won into 1 billion won." However, as cases of fraud involving false credentials to induce investments and embezzle investment funds and profits continue, investors need to exercise special caution when making investment decisions.

The scam method of fake real estate experts is "influence." Mr. A, in his 50s, gained recognition by appearing as a so-called "real estate expert" on a cable channel program. Based on this, he defrauded about 3 billion won from around 30 students of the real estate investment academy he operated by promising profits from real estate development projects. Even while under investigation for fraud charges, he is known to have induced new investors to invest and embezzled investment funds.

Mr. B, in his 30s, was also known on Instagram as a "scalping (short-term trading) expert." He pretended to be a stock expert by manipulating stock balance certificates and profit verification documents, gaining about 26,000 followers. Mr. B deceived investors by promising to pay half of the investment amount as profit within three months and embezzled a total of 600 million won.

If you have been a victim of such investment fraud, you should take legal action as quickly as possible. Even if profits occur early in the investment, this may be bait to induce larger investments, so caution is necessary. If abnormal demands such as account opening fees arise during the transaction process or if fraud is suspected, immediately stop the transaction and promptly report to the police or the Financial Supervisory Service.

However, even if you win a lawsuit, the possibility of recovering the lost amount is small. Therefore, the Financial Supervisory Service advises to avoid being deceived by illegal financial investment operators by ▲ firmly rejecting abnormal investment solicitations such as guaranteed high returns ▲ verifying whether the counterparty is a regulated financial company through the Financial Consumer Information Portal (FINE) ▲ and when receiving investment solicitations for unlisted stocks, not to be swayed by unverified phrases such as "planned to be listed" or "guaranteed high returns," and to carefully decide on the investment.

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