On the way to work and on the way home from work. We address various issues that are hot topics both online and offline. Beyond conveying facts, it also contains economic value and social meaning.
All the issues in the world will be solved!
Photo = Capture from ‘Namdari Mac’ channel
Interest in this scam is growing as singer Kim Sang-hyuk from the group Click B confessed that he lost 20 million won due to a ‘romance scam’.
On the 8th, on the ‘Namdari Mac’ channel, ‘Undefeated in all battles of speaking! From romance scams to second generation plans? [남다의 취중진상 – 김상혁 편]A video titled ‘ was released.
In the video, Kim Sang-hyuk said, “These days, I get contacted online. One day, someone started sending me DMs periodically. It was a time when I was psychologically weak and didn’t drink or exercise. Messaging with this friend became my leisure time. “It was like being pen pals with a foreign friend,” he recalled.
He continued, “The friend said he wanted to celebrate my birthday and asked if I used Bitcoin. He said dividends would be paid if I put US dollars into my wallet address.”
He said he didn’t have much doubt, saying, “He didn’t tell me to send it to him, but to put my money in my wallet.”
Kim Sang-hyuk said, “So I put in 1 million won, and the dividends fell every 6 hours. $5 or $6 came in, so I earned 24,000 won a day. The deposit amount appeared in my account. The friend gave 200 million won. “They said there was, so I put in more money and ended up losing the money,” he explained.
He also said, “That person could have been a man. I didn’t talk to him on the phone or love him. I just liked the warm words he said.”
━
‘Romance scam’ is a representative crime that exploits ‘lonely feelings’
Photo = Capture from ‘Namdari Mac’ channel
Romance scam refers to a criminal practice of lying about one’s identity, such as occupation and appearance, on a SNS profile, building trust and rapport by talking with a potential victim, and then stealing money by pretending to be in a romantic relationship. It is known as a representative crime that takes advantage of the victim’s ‘lonely feelings’.
The damage caused by romance scams reached an all-time high of 5.5 billion won last year.
According to the National Intelligence Service on the 8th, the number of reports of romance scams received at the NIS 111 Center last year was 126, the highest number of reports ever.
The amount of damage was 5.512 billion won last year. The amount of damage from romance scams increased every year from 830 million won in 2019 to 370 million won in 2020, 3.13 billion won in 2021, and 3.96 billion won in 2022, and last year it increased about 7 times compared to 5 years ago.
It is known that women are more vulnerable to romance scam crimes than men. According to Korea University, on May 28 last year, Beomjin Park, a master’s student at the school’s Graduate School of Information Security, published a study on ‘Status of Romance Scams and Countermeasures’ in the academic journal Digital Forensics Research.
As a result of Mr. Park’s analysis of 280 reports received as a type of romance scam crime from January to June of last year to the National Police Agency cyber crime reporting system, 71.4% (200 people) of the victims were women and 28.6% (80 people) were men.
By age group, those in their 20s or younger accounted for the most at 52.1% (146 people). Those in their 30s followed with 35.4% (99 people), those in their 40s with 10.7% (30 people), and those in their 50s or older with 1.8% (5 people). 87.5% of the total are young people in their 30s or younger.
Photo = Image Today
By crime type, currency exchange fraud was the most common at 55.4% (155 cases), followed by cost payment at 37.1% (104 cases) and coin investment at 7.5% (21 cases).
A currency exchange scam involves deceiving someone with a good-looking appearance as a Korean person and requesting that the money be deposited into the victim’s account and sent, saying, “I live overseas, and if I don’t exchange my points with cash at a site where I recharged them with cash, they will all be forfeited within a few days.”
The cost-payment method is the most traditional method of impersonating a deployed soldier, UN doctor, or wealthy foreigner and asking them to pay fees, tariffs, and surgical expenses.
The coin investment type is a type that impersonates a wealthy foreigner or a Korean foreigner and deceives the victim into thinking that he or she is making a lot of profit by investing in virtual currency and then induces investment.
In most cases, the first place victims met the fraudster was through SNS, messenger, or blind date apps. Instagram accounted for the most with 27.7% (75 cases), followed by blind date app Wipi with 14.0% (38 cases) and Tinder with 7.0% (19 cases).
━
‘Romance scam’ crime is an international and organized crime
Contents of Instagram DMs from actual romance scam victims. Photo = Provided by the National Police Agency
Romance scams are organized and organized internationally. Because of this, the reality is that it is difficult to arrest them.
According to the recently published research report on ‘Aspects of Romance Scam Crimes Examined through Judgments’ (2023), all of the defendants in 73 first-trial verdicts found guilty of romance scams over the past five years were foreigners. The majority of nationalities included people from Africa and Southeast Asia.
On the 21st of last month, 13 members of the organization, including General Manager A (39) of Nigerian nationality, who was caught by the International Crime Investigation Division 1 of the Metropolitan Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, also committed fraud using romance scam methods. The arrested suspects include three general managers, including Mr. A, and 10 lead managers. Eight of them were of Nigerian nationality, and the remaining four were of Guinea, Angola, Liberia, and South Africa.
They used titles such as ‘honey’ and ‘honey’ to the victims. One male victim suffered a loss of 7.3 million won after being asked to “pay the customs clearance fee because I will send you the cost of settlement in Korea.” Another female victim said, “I lost my luggage during a business trip to Dubai, and my bank account was frozen so I need money.” It is known that he was deceived and suffered 315 million won in damage.
━
We need to raise social awareness about ‘romance scams’
It is known that victims who have been scammed by romance scams often hide the fact that they have been harmed because people around them think that they ‘feel affection for the scammer and were deceived.’ Last November, at Mapo Police Station in Seoul, a woman who had been scammed by a romance scam made an extreme choice after being investigated as a complainant.
Even if the victim is reported, romance scams are considered fraud, so if the criminals claim they have no money, victims have no way to get relief.
Experts advise that society should raise awareness of romance scams to prevent crimes. They also argue that an alternative could be to increase the level of punishment for the perpetrator so that the victim is not intimidated.
A police official who previously investigated 13 members of a romance scam organization said, “To prevent damage from romance scams, do not expose excessively detailed personal information or private life on SNS, and if someone you meet through SNS asks for money, report it to the police.” He urged caution.
