"Nearly Lost Tens of Millions in Retirement Funds"... Banker's Intuition Stops 'Romance Scam'

A retired public official in his 60s nearly lost his retirement pension after falling victim to a 'romance scam,' a fraud method where scammers gain trust by communicating like a romantic partner online and then extort money. Thanks to the help of a bank employee, he was able to avoid the loss.

According to the Goyang Police Station in Gyeonggi Province on the 28th, Mr. A (65), a retired public official, visited a bank in Deogyang-gu, Goyang City on the 3rd and transferred 51 million KRW from his public official pension to an account belonging to Mr. B, whom he had met through SNS.

After leaving the bank, Mr. A realized that Mr. B's account had been suspended, and the transfer was canceled. He then received another account number from Mr. B and returned to the bank to make the transfer again.

[Photo by Pixabay]

The bank employee who had been observing Mr. A from the beginning found the situation suspicious, reviewed Mr. A's statement and call records, and, judging that it was likely a voice phishing case, reported it to the police.

Police investigations revealed that Mr. A had been deceived by Mr. B, whom he met online. Mr. B approached Mr. A through SNS in June, built a relationship, and then requested money, saying, "I need surgery fees for my child, but my money is tied up overseas, so please send money." Mr. A transferred 8.78 million KRW without much suspicion and was found to have intended to send additional retirement funds.

Mr. A believed that Mr. B was a woman, but the person's nationality, age, and gender were unclear.

A police official stated, "This case was identified as a romance scam, where the scammer gains affection from the person met on SNS and then extorts money under various pretexts. If it were not for the bank employee's keen observation, the victim could have lost tens of millions of won in retirement funds." The police awarded a letter of appreciation to the bank employee who prevented the damage and are continuing the investigation into Mr. B.

Romance scams approach middle-aged and older adults by providing emotional comfort

Recently, romance scam fraud targeting the elderly has been increasing in South Korea. Romance scam is a compound word of Romance and Scam, a new type of fraud where scammers pretend to be in a romantic relationship on SNS, build trust, and then demand money or valuables.

Romance scams approach middle-aged and older adults by providing emotional comfort and then carry out fraudulent activities. Therefore, most victims do not admit to being scammed and tend to believe that the other party is unreachable due to unavoidable circumstances.

Even when victims realize the fraud later, fear of social criticism and shame often prevent them from reporting, leading to greater damage.

To prevent romance scams, it is important to ▲ refrain from indiscriminate friend requests on SNS ▲ be suspicious of people who excessively flaunt their appearance or wealth ▲ carefully consider online relationships with overseas Koreans or unfamiliar foreigners ▲ and avoid transferring money when requests disguised as favors are made in online-only relationships.

If you suspect or have been a victim of such fraud, you should immediately report it to the nearest police station or through the Mobile Cybercop app.

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