Swimming Instructor Swindles Hundreds of Millions Using "Half-Price Lessons" Bait... Gambling Debts Rolled Over
2-Year Prison Sentence with Additional 10 Months for New Crimes Revealed
Accessing Victims Through Internet Platforms
A swimming instructor who gathered students by advertising 'half-price lessons' on an internet platform, then neither conducted the lessons nor returned approximately 300 million KRW in lesson fees, was found to have committed additional crimes, resulting in an extended prison term.
According to a Yonhap News report on the 8th, Song Jong-seon, presiding judge of the Chuncheon District Court Criminal Division 1, sentenced A (33) to 10 months in prison on charges of fraud. A is accused of extorting 48.9 million KRW from victims seeking personal instructors through a so-called lifestyle service matching internet platform over about a month starting in March 2022.
Initially, A received 500,000 KRW by promising to provide swimming lessons at half price. He then changed his story, saying, "You must register at the swimming center with the original lesson fee, so please give me 1 million KRW." Subsequently, he used various lies such as "There is a daily transfer limit; if you give me 1 million KRW, I will refund you 2 million KRW," and "I plan to repay a negative loan, so please help me with existing debt repayment," to obtain money 17 times.
A had already been sentenced to two years in prison by the Chuncheon District Court in January for defrauding 16 other victims of 275.3 million KRW using similar methods on internet platforms from July 2021 to April 2022. With no significant assets or income, when he incurred internet gambling debts, he took money from victims to cover these debts through a "rolling over" scheme. It is also known that A charged victims who requested refunds additional settlement fees.
A’s sentence was increased after additional crimes were revealed during the appeal trial.
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Judge Song stated the reason for the sentencing, saying, "Given that the defendant has a history of multiple punishments for similar offenses and that most victims have not recovered their losses, a prison sentence is unavoidable."
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