Claimed to Be Ivy League Medical Graduate... Influencer in Her 30s Nabbed for Luxury Cosmetics Group Purchase Scam Worth 100 Million Won

Prosecution: "Impersonating a Cosmetics Developer"

A woman in her 30s who worked as an influencer has been arrested for running a cosmetics group purchase scam on social networking services (SNS) by making false claims about her background.

According to Yonhap News on the 27th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Gimcheon Branch of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office (headed by Chief Prosecutor Lim Jisoo) indicted influencer A, a woman in her 30s, on fraud charges after she allegedly pocketed around 100 million won from victims by organizing group purchases of cosmetics through SNS.

A is accused of fraudulently promoting a non-existent luxury cosmetics brand on SNS from February to June last year, inducing group purchases and defrauding about 250 people out of 96 million won. Investigations revealed that she deceived victims by falsely claiming to have graduated from an Ivy League medical school and to be living a wealthy lifestyle.

Previously, police decided not to refer the case for prosecution based on A's submission of tax invoices for sales totaling about 150 million won and applications for victim security deposits. However, after victims filed an objection and the case was forwarded, the prosecution arrested and indicted her in custody, considering the following factors: ▲ the tax invoices had been inflated by more than 100 million won ▲ the luxury cosmetics A claimed to possess did not, in fact, exist ▲ the security deposit applications submitted by A failed to properly specify the intended beneficiaries, rendering them invalid.

The prosecution plans to conduct a full review of additional fraud allegations related to A and consider merging the indictments. A prosecution official stated, "Despite previous convictions for fraud, she continued to make false statements without remorse, submitting fabricated evidence time and again. Considering that she is officially registered as having no fixed address and is impersonating a cosmetics developer, we secured her custody to prevent further crimes."

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