Luxury Bags Sold Cheaply... 20s Arrested for Pocketing 200 Million Won in Goods Sales Scam

A man in his 20s was arrested for swindling hundreds of millions of won by falsely claiming to sell luxury bags, expensive jewelry, and accommodation vouchers on an online secondhand trading platform.

The Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency and Jinju Police Station announced on the 3rd that they arrested and detained Mr. A, who, from March 2021 to March this year, received over 200 million won from 167 people by pretending to sell products on a mobile app secondhand trading platform.

Mobile phone used in the crime, seized as evidence. [Photo by Gyeongnam Police Agency]

According to the police, Mr. A committed the crimes by pretending to sell items that would interest victims in various internet clubs where transactions between app secondhand trading platforms and members are possible, including a motorcycle club where he committed motorcycle sales fraud.

He frequently changed 52 bank accounts and 77 phone numbers used for the crimes to prevent these accounts and numbers from being registered or checked on fraud history inquiry sites such as No Scam and The Cheat.

He also frequently moved his residence to evade police tracking.

The police received a total of 167 reports of similar victim cases from March 2021, and through cyber tracking investigations, CCTV analysis, and inquiries, they arrested Mr. A.

Conversation content with the victim obtained by the police. [Photo by Gyeongnam Police Agency]

As preventive measures against cyber fraud in direct transactions and shopping malls, the police advised ▲caution when sellers offer items at prices significantly lower than market value or sell many items that are scarce nationwide ▲be cautious if the seller does not disclose the direct transaction location in advance or insists on delivery-only transactions ▲check the transaction history of the user on the trading platform.

They also recommended ▲first checking the seller’s fraud history on sites like No Scam and The Cheat ▲verifying the use of prepaid phones and virtual accounts ▲confirming that the buyer’s and depositor’s real names match ▲when using safe transaction URLs, verifying the site through portal searches ▲and when using Naver Pay safe payment, confirming whether the account holder is Naver Pay, Naver Financial, or Naver.

A police official said, “Internet goods fraud is a representative crime that harms the common people’s economy, so we will actively respond by mobilizing all cyber investigation capabilities,” adding, “We will focus cyber investigation personnel on the intensive crackdown on four major malicious cybercrimes running until October 31 to ensure that residents can feel cyber safety.”

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