hankyoreh

Lee Seong-seon

“I’m a dispatch solder working in Syria. I’m getting reading to leave the service and would like to meet friends from around the world.”

In mid-June, 50-year-old “L” received a social media friend request from “Albert,” who claimed to be a US soldier. L exchanged texts and photographs with Albert on a daily basis, and the two became close. Early this month, Albert proposed marriage, saying that he was an orphan and had no family in the US to go home to when he was discharged. “I’d like to marry you and live with you in Korea,” he wrote. He went on to say that there were “no banks here that do international transactions” and told L he would send her his savings for safekeeping. A few days later, she received a phone called from “Michael,” who claimed to be a diplomat well acquainted with Albert.

“I’m coming to Korea, and Albert asked me to do him a favor. You need to give me the clearance fee for my bag, right?” he said, speaking in fluent Gyeongsang Province dialect. L felt uneasy, but then she thought about the closeness she had formed with Albert. She sent the money. A few days later, she was told, “I had dollars in my bag, and taxes need to be paid on them.” She sent more money. By July 10, she had wired around 100 million won (US$89,800).

The Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency’s cyber crime investigation team arrested Michael, a 42-year-old Nigerian, on charges of fraud for using the “romance scam” method to extract 640 million won (US$575,000) from L and 40 other people for clearance fees and other claimed expenses. It also seized the computer used in the criminal activity, a mobile phone, a third-party bankbook, and 51.45 million won (US$46,200) in cash.

A romance scam is a form of international fraud that has developed since the global spread of social media. Perpetrators claim to be in love with someone met online and extract money from them in the form of requests for help.

Michael stands accused of receiving payments ranging between two million and 130 million won (US$1,800-116,800) from 41 people on anywhere from one to ten occasions since February. He consulted details on South Koreans sent in by romance scam decoys before contacting around 200 of them and telling him that he had items to give them but needed clearance fees to leave the airport.

Michael told police that he had “agreed to receive the money at the suggestion of an acquaintance early this year” and “collected transaction fees for doing what I was told based on information given to me by decoys in Malaysia.” Michael reportedly learned to speak Korean while staying illegally after entering South Korea on a short-term visa in 2009.

Police believe overseas decoys used names and photographs posted on social media to present themselves to victims as soldiers, heirs to large estates, or businessmen, and sent them photographs of their purported locations and bags filled with cash and valuable objects - all of which were downloaded from the internet and doctored. Police also said the third-person bankbooks used for the crimes were purchased from foreign workers who had returned home after a brief employment in South Korea. In addition to requesting judicial cooperation from Malaysia, where the decoys operated, police are also broadening the investigation, which they expect to turn up more victims.

“Romance scam is a form of international fraud that is common enough worldwide today that the FBI issued a warning early this year,” said Lee Seong-seon, head of the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency’s cyber crime investigation team.

“Once you’ve been lured in, it’s hard to get out,” Lee added. “People need to be wary of strangers with no connection to them who make friend requests on social media and ask for favors related to deliveries.”

By Song In-geol, Daejeon correspondent

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