Married Man Who Posed as Wealthy Bachelor to Defraud Woman of Millions Gets Harsher Sentence

A married man who posed as a wealthy bachelor to deceive a woman into believing they would marry, subsequently swindling her out of tens of millions of won, has received a harsher sentence on appeal.

The Daejeon District Court's Criminal Division 2-1 (Presiding Judge Park Jun-beom) announced on June 22 that it overturned the original sentence of 8 months in prison for the defendant, identified as A (42), and sentenced him to 1 year in prison.

A was indicted on charges of fraud for posing as a wealthy, unmarried man on a dating application and dating the victim for approximately three years. During this time, he deceived her by saying, "I need to pay damages to my company but I am short on cash. If you lend me the money, I will pay you back." He received approximately 59.97 million won over five separate occasions between March 2023 and January 2024.

In reality, A was a married man with two children, and investigations revealed that he intended to use the money for living expenses rather than for damages as he had claimed.

The first trial court sentenced him to 8 months in prison, stating, "The victim suffered not only financial loss but also significant emotional distress."

The appellate court viewed A's crimes more severely.

The second trial court ruled, "The defendant hid the fact that he had a spouse and children, posed as a wealthy man, and dated the unmarried victim for over three years. He then swindled money from the victim, who believed they would get married." The court added, "The nature of the crime and the circumstances are extremely malicious and cowardly."

The court further stated, "The damage amount is a large sum nearing 60 million won, the victim has not forgiven the defendant, and the damages have not been fully restored." It added, "Even fully considering that the defendant repaid a portion of the debt before and after the original sentencing, the sentence handed down by the lower court was too light and therefore unfair."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
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