'High School Alumni Gaslighting' Extortion and Assault... 20s Arrested and Indicted

A man in his 20s who psychologically dominated (gaslighted) a high school friend he went to study in Japan with for five years, extorted over 100 million won from him, and made him report his daily life according to rules he created has been brought to trial.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 4th, the Criminal Division 2 of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Kang Seon-ju) announced that Mr. A (24, male) was arrested and indicted on charges of coercion, extortion, and serious injury. The victim, Mr. B (24, male), was a high school friend who studied abroad together at a university in Osaka through a study abroad program in 2018. Both were 19 years old at the time.

According to the prosecution, starting around 2018, Mr. A deceived Mr. B by pretending to have secured him a job at a fictitious game company. He told Mr. B that he had to achieve 'game wins' and write 'reviews' as required by the company. However, if Mr. B failed to meet these tasks, Mr. A repeatedly implied that Mr. B was causing damage to the company by not completing the assignments.

Believing he was compensating the game company for damages, Mr. B sent 80% of his living expenses to Mr. A, and when that was insufficient, he worked part-time unloading packages and handed over his daily wages. Mr. A psychologically controlled Mr. B by threatening that if the damages were not compensated, Mr. B's parents or younger sister would repay on his behalf or that Mr. B would be physically punished. Through this, Mr. A is accused of extorting approximately 160 million won from Mr. B over 405 occasions from December 2020 to last March, including living expenses and part-time wages.

Mr. A is also charged with making Mr. B sign a 'debt obligation to the game company' contract from March 2019 to last March, enforcing lifestyle rules such as set times for sleep, meals, and bathing, and requiring reports on compliance. Mr. A received reports from Mr. B such as 'I ate' and 'I washed my face.' If Mr. B violated these rules, fines were imposed, and if accumulated, Mr. B was physically beaten. In September last year, Mr. A allegedly struck Mr. B multiple times on the head for playing games excessively, causing serious injuries including subdural hematoma and intracerebral hemorrhage. The prosecution, after analyzing medical advisory opinions, confirmed that these assaults could have been life-threatening to Mr. B and are likely to cause lasting cognitive impairments.

Mr. A exploited Mr. B’s difficulty in contacting others while living abroad and even blocked contact with their mutual friend Mr. C, who also studied abroad with them. He managed Mr. B’s social media accounts, deleting messages from Mr. B’s parents and acquaintances, and impersonated Mr. B to completely cut off his contact with outsiders. Mr. B stated during the prosecution’s investigation, "After realizing that even my SNS account was being controlled, I felt there was no way to seek help and gave up, complying."

The prosecution has taken measures such as psychological counseling and financial support to help Mr. B and his family regain a normal life and plans to ensure Mr. B participates in the testimony process during the trial.

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