"Military Gambler Defrauds 275 Junior Soldiers; Receives Suspended Prison Sentence"

Fraud to Raise Gambling Funds
Forgery of Official Documents to Retrieve Mobile Phone

Gwangju District Court Building.

A man in his twenties, a former Air Force reservist, who became addicted to habitual gambling during his military service and extorted money from hundreds of junior soldiers, even going so far as to forge official documents to retrieve his mobile phone, has received a suspended prison sentence.

On March 4, Chief Judge Ji Hyesun of the Gwangju District Court Criminal Division 5 sentenced Air Force reservist A (aged 24), who was indicted on charges of fraud, forgery of official documents, use of forged official documents, habitual gambling, and violations of the National Sports Promotion Act, to two years in prison with a four-year suspension. In addition, the court ordered two years of probation and 160 hours of community service.

From December 2023 to April of the following year, while serving as an enlisted airman, A is accused of defrauding a total of 9.56 million won from 275 junior soldiers, using the money to repay private loans or squander it on gambling bets.

Investigations revealed that from 2017, when he was a teenager, until 2024, A had engaged in illegal online sports gambling a total of 5,078 times. When he ran out of gambling funds, he shamelessly lied to his unit's junior soldiers, telling them, "We need to collect 8,000 won each for lunch during unit relocation," or "If you give me 30,000 won in cash, I'll exchange it for 150,000 mileage points on a military uniform sales website."

A's crimes did not stop there. After being investigated by military police for fraud, he also forged the date on a summons from the military police—stored in the duty commander's office—so he could retrieve his personal mobile phone in May 2024, deceiving the unit commander in the process.

The court stated, "He abused his position within the military to take money from over 200 junior soldiers, and even forged official documents during the investigation, making the nature of his crimes extremely serious."

However, the court explained its sentencing, saying, "The individual amounts of damage were not large, most of the stolen funds have been recovered, the defendant has no prior criminal record and is a first-time offender, and he has promised to live diligently after discharge. All these factors were considered comprehensively in determining the sentence."

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