"Demanding Money Saying 'I Love You'... 5.5 Billion Won Lost to Romance Scam"

NIS-Reported Romance Scams, 126 Cases Last Year
Damage Amount Increased 17-Fold

So-called ‘romance scams,’ in which perpetrators approach the opposite sex through social networking services (SNS) and then extort money, are on the rise, requiring special caution. Romance scams are crimes where the scammer deceives potential victims by falsifying their identity, such as occupation and appearance, on SNS (social media) profiles, builds trust and rapport, and then embezzles money.

Last year, the National Intelligence Service 111 Center received 126 reports of romance scams, about 3.4 times more than the 37 cases reported in 2020. The amount of damage recorded was 5.512 billion won, a sharp increase of about 17 times compared to 320 million won in 2020.

(This photo is not directly related to the article.) [Photo source=Pixabay]

According to a compilation by Yonhap News on the 15th, Mr. A, who lives in Gimhae, Gyeongnam, was also deceived by Mr. B, a man in his 50s who pretended to be a foreign airline captain with assets worth 10 billion won. Mr. B contacted Mr. A using an overseas caller ID or appeared at a domestic airport to meet him, thoroughly concealing his true identity. He also sent manipulated English text messages titled ‘Funds Transfer Scheduled,’ pretending to be sent from an overseas bank, claiming he would give money located abroad to Mr. A. The problem was that all the numbers Mr. A received were international numbers routed through a phone number spoofing application that made calls and texts appear to come from abroad.

Believing this, Mr. A was defrauded of about 400 million won. Subsequently, Mr. B used similar methods to collect a total of 970 million won from four people, including Mr. A, and was recently sentenced to six years in prison by the Changwon District Court.

Romance Scam
Photo by Yonhap News

On December 27 last year, in an apartment in Busan, while the homeowner was away on a trip, the front door lock was changed by a romance scam victim. The woman who replaced the door lock claimed, “I was a victim of a romance scam, and I changed the lock because my foreign boyfriend said it was the house we would live in together.”

On a caf? for romance scam victims, people who suffered damages ranging from several million won to several hundred million won shared their experiences. The police emphasized the need for caution, noting that romance scam tactics are evolving. It is reported that scammers sometimes induce investments in virtual currencies or use deepfake technology to synthesize specific individuals and deceive victims through video calls.

The National Police Agency has a cybercrime reporting system, but since most of the criminal groups operate servers overseas, it is difficult to identify or catch them. Consequently, recovering the lost funds is naturally challenging. Choi Chi-hoon, head of the Cyber Investigation Unit at the Gyeongnam Police Agency, stated, “When money is requested, it is necessary to develop a habit of suspecting a crime and to make preventive efforts such as re-verifying clues that can confirm the other party’s identity.”

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