Last October, victim A was scammed out of 3.8 million won while trading a used car.
However, that was not the end.
In April of this year, a second nightmare began when she happened to see an advertisement on social media promising to recover scammed money.
[Fraud Victim: I was supposed to buy a used car on Danggeun for 3.8 million won, but the seller asked me to trust them and send the money first because they urgently needed it, so I sent it. (Last April) An ad was posted on social media under the name of a law firm, claiming they could recover scammed money. That is when my debts started piling up more and more. Eventually, when I could not scrape together any more money, they suddenly blocked me and vanished.]
Impersonating a law firm, the culprits sent A a lawyer ID card, a Korean Bar Association registration certificate, and even a plausible-looking contract.
There was no down payment either. Instead, they claimed they would only take a 20 percent contingency fee after recovering the funds.
Then, a bizarre thing happened.
The gang claimed that the 3.8 million won A had lost to the scam had flowed into a casino in Macau, and that to get it back, A had to gamble and win the money herself.
To achieve this, the gang even mobilized an "IT technician."
[Fraud Victim: But they said that because (the scammed 3.8 million won) went abroad, it could not be recovered directly, and that we could get it back by playing a Macau game. (Then) they introduced me to an IT technician. The technician said they would do it for me, and that is how it started.]
The gang invited A to a group chat room for victims with about 20 members, reassuring her that other people were recovering their money in the same way.
They also brainwashed her into believing this was a legitimate process to reclaim her money rather than gambling, building trust by responding to A around the clock, day and night.
[Fraud Victim: When it reached about 5.17 million won, something went wrong and the (account) was frozen, so it showed that I could not access the gaming site. They told me I had to deposit the exact same amount of 5.17 million won, so I deposited it.]
As demands to make additional deposits in order to make withdrawals were repeated, A ended up being extorted out of an additional 140 million won, rather than recovering the 3.8 million won she initially lost.
When A could no longer source more money, the gang cut off contact and went into hiding.
Experts warn that cases of so-called "recovery scams" are on the rise recently, urging people not to sign contracts based solely on social media ads, but to always meet with a lawyer in person to verify things before signing.
(Produced by Lee Se-young | Video by Choi Gang-san | Video Source: News Hunters | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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