A romance scam ring impersonating actor Lee Jungjae scammed about 500 million KRW from a woman in her 50s. They deceived the victim by sending fake photos of Lee Jungjae created by AI and even a forged driver's license.
The scam began with a Tiktok message. Someone introduced themselves as actor Lee Jungjae, saying that he wanted to communicate with fans, and approached Ms. A, a woman in her 50s living in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, last April. He then encouraged her to move their conversation to Kakao Talk.
Victim A: He kept insisting that he was really Lee Jungjae. He said he was too busy to prove it otherwise, asking me to trust him.
To pretend to be the real Lee Jungjae, the scammer sent AI-generated 'airport selfies' and even a fake ID with incorrect birth date. After gaining trust from the victim, he introduced someone he called a 'manager,' and that's when the fraud started. The 'manager' demanded 6 million KRW from Ms. A, claiming it was to arrange a personal meeting with Lee Jungjae.
Victim A: I said I didn't want to spend money to meet him, but he said that he would handle it himself once we met.
Once she was hooked, the demands increased. The scammer asked for 10 million KRW to issue a 'VIP fan meeting cad,' and later claimed Lee Jungjae was detained at an airport in the U.S., repeatedly extracting tens of million KRW. The scammer affectionately called her 'honey' and 'darling,' deceiving her into believing they had naturally progressed into a romantic relationship. Ms. A, who believed she would get all her money back, eventually lost 500 million KRW over six months.
Victim A: He promised he'd pay it all back when he came. I said, 'If you're really Lee Jungjae, how could you do this to me?'
When Miryang Police Station began an investigation, the scammer messaged her again asking her to trust him. The South Gyeongsang Provincial Police took over this case and keeping all possibilities open, including connections to a Cambodian crime organization.
-AI is truly a problem.
-Whoa... She actually fell for that.
-Why criticize the victim? Don't become a perpetrator yourself. Have some empathy. People with lower cognitive ability can easily be fooled.
-I feel sorry for her... Getting scammed by something that so sloppy. Life must be so hard for her.
-Those pictures obviously look AI-generated.
-It honestly fascinates me that she was fooled by that.
-The victim sounds like a Korean-American who's lived in the U.S. for a long time... That's probably why she couldn't tell that his texts sounded like Google translate.
-AI is going to look even more realistic soon... I'm seriously concerned.
-He literally sounds like Google translate in those texts.
-Why are people in the comments blaming the victim?
-ㅋㅋㅋㅋ How did someone who falls for things like that even manage to save 500 million KRW?
-Wh would Lee Jungjae want to contact you in the first place...
-Why would Lee Jungjae go after you...? He's literally dating a Chaebol girlfriend.
-Why would Lee Jungjae ask you for money............
