Man Who Exploited Acquaintances' Sympathy to Defraud 300 Million Won…Court Cites "Malicious Methods" in Prison Sentence

Fabricated false crisis situations to defraud acquaintances…even demanded more money from a victim who had not been repaid
The court: "Malicious methods and a large defrauded amount…a commensurate punishment is inevitable"

A man who deceived acquaintances with false claims and took hundreds of millions of won has been sentenced to prison.

The Suncheon Branch of the Gwangju District Court on the 13th of last month sentenced A, a man in his 50s indicted on fraud charges, to 3 years and 6 months in prison.

A was accused of taking about 300 million won on roughly 160 occasions in 2024 from two people including his acquaintance B.

The investigation revealed that A repeatedly defrauded the victims of money by fabricating pitiful situations designed to arouse sympathy, such as claiming he needed money to unfreeze an insurance payout account frozen after a factory fire, or that he was short on family medical expenses.

B submitted a complaint to the investigative authorities, stating that even though he had suffered severe economic damage from not being repaid, A had actually demanded that he lend even more money.

The court sentenced A to prison. The bench noted, "The amount the defendant defrauded by deceiving the victims is large, the number of offenses is very high, and the method was malicious." It added, as its sentencing rationale, "As most of the damage has not been recovered to date, the victims are suffering great economic and psychological pain, so a commensurate punishment is inevitable."

Attorney Hwang Yeo-jin of Daeryun LLC (law firm), who represented B, explained, "This is a case with a very bad nature of crime, as he cleverly exploited the victim's goodwill to defraud a large sum over a long period," adding, "We were able to secure a prison sentence by actively conveying to the court the enormous scale of the unrecovered damage, the victim's suffering, and the malicious nature of the crime." whyjay@sportsseoul.com

Reporter Shin Jae-yu

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Man Who Exploited Acquaintances' Sympathy to Defraud 300 Million Won…Court Cites "Malicious Methods" in Prison Sentence (Go to Article)