Musical Actor Michael Lee Impersonation SNS Account Scammed 200 Million Won

Add Friend and Send DM "Need Money"
Michael Lee Personally Warns Against Impersonation Scams

The police have launched an investigation after receiving a report that a large sum of money was extorted from a victim following a message from a social networking service (SNS) account impersonating the famous musical actor Michael Lee.

According to a Yonhap News report on the 2nd, a woman in her 50s, Ms. A, filed a complaint with the Anyang Dongan Police Station in Gyeonggi Province on the 31st of last month, stating that she was scammed by a Facebook account impersonating musical actor Michael Lee. Ms. A said, "A fake account pretending to be Michael Lee sent me a friend request, and during our conversations, they deceived me by saying, 'My account is frozen and I need money. I will return the money once the account is unfrozen.'" She claims to have sent a total of 190 million won in three installments to the account provided by that fake profile. The police are tracking the account where the money was transferred, and it is known that other women have reported similar damages besides Ms. A.

Musical actor Michael Lee

As the damages continued, Michael Lee's official Instagram and Facebook fan pages posted warnings stating, "Actor Michael Lee never sends direct messages (DMs) requesting money," urging caution against impersonation scams. In this post, Michael Lee also shared screenshots of the online conversations exchanged between the scammer and the victim.

From the conversation, the scammer approached by saying, "I added you after seeing your profile in the fan recommendation list on Facebook," then lured the victim into a private KakaoTalk chat room, claiming KakaoTalk was more convenient. The scammer's name was displayed as 'Mark Price,' not 'Michael Lee,' but the profile picture was of actor Michael Lee.

A post from Michael Lee's official account warning about impersonation scams [Image source=Captured from Michael Lee's Instagram]

Michael Lee's agency stated, "Only the account @michaelkleeofficeil with a blue checkmark is the official account," and added, "If you receive a DM message suspected of being a scam, please contact the agency to verify and be especially cautious to avoid damage."

Michael Lee, a Korean-American, debuted in the United States in 1994 as the character Thuy in 'Miss Saigon' and actively pursued his career before entering the domestic stage in 2006, becoming a representative star musical actor famous for his role as Jesus in 'Jesus Christ Superstar.' He has also served as a judge and mentor on various audition programs and recently appeared as a teacher in the Netflix drama 'XO, Kitty.'

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