"Food Poisoning After Eating, Pay Up"… 30s Sentenced for Extorting Restaurants Nationwide

A man in his 30s who called restaurants nationwide, including in Seoul and Busan, falsely claiming to have contracted food poisoning after eating their food was sentenced to prison.

According to the legal community on the 10th, the Seoul Northern District Court Criminal Division 6 (Presiding Judge Song Hye-young) sentenced Lee (38) to one year in prison on the 30th of last month for charges of extortion and attempted extortion. The court explained the sentencing by stating, "Despite being indicted last June for crimes using the same method and being on trial, the defendant continued committing offenses until the end of March this year. However, some of the offenses were attempted only, and the defendant paid all damages to 12 out of 13 victims, some of whom do not wish to press charges."

Lee was prosecuted for randomly calling restaurants nationwide from last year until March this year, saying, "I visited your establishment and ate sashimi, but I contracted food poisoning and enteritis. If you do not pay hospital bills and settlement money, I will report you to the health center," and extorted a total of 2,415,780 won from 13 victims under the pretense of medical and settlement fees.

Lee attempted to threaten and extort money from victims about 82 times using the same method, but some attempts were unsuccessful.

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