On July 20, Park, who was trying to buy a bag on a well-known luxury goods purchasing agency website.
He inquired about a purchase through a comment on the official seller's product introduction post, and sent 4.68 million won to the guided account.
A few hours later, Park realized that the nickname of the person who wrote the reply was different from the seller,
[Park / Scam Victim : (Originally) it was 'Celeb', but they made it like 'Celleb', something like that. The ID. I said I would buy it without any doubt….]
The next day, he visited the Gyeonggi Bundang Police Station to report the incident.
The Bundang Police Station, which identified the suspect as a man in his 20s named Kwon, transferred the case to the Yeongju Police Station in North Gyeongsang Province, Kwon's place of residence, in accordance with the case handling rules, and during that time, a week's time just passed.
A week after that, Kim, who was scammed in the exact same way on the same website, also visited the Seoul Gangseo Police Station to report the damage.
Kim, who visited a bank before going to the police station, was told that a police request was necessary to block withdrawals from the criminal's account.
[Kim / Scam Victim : (I asked the bank) that I suspect a scam and want to request a suspension of payment for (the criminal's) account, and they said that unless the police request it, they cannot suspend payments….]
However, Kim was later told by the assigned police officer, "Under current law, account payment suspension is only possible for voice phishing crimes," and received only the response to "inquire with the bank again," failing to take any action.
The police first sent an official cooperation document to banks asking to "suspend withdrawals" from the suspect's account on August 25, more than a month after Park's initial report.
In the meantime, the suspect left the country for the Philippines without any restriction, and the number of victims has grown to 60 to date.
[Kwak Joon-ho / Lawyer : There is a need to prepare institutional arrangements so that prompt account freezing can be made only in cases where there are many victims and (the charges) are clearly revealed….]
Victims who opened a group chat room expressed their frustration, saying they confirmed during a recent police investigation that the suspect in the Philippines is continuing crimes with new accounts.
[Kim / Scam Victim : No matter how hard it is to catch them because they fled overseas, the very fact that they can keep opening accounts and committing fraud is so shocking, (I think) isn't there something wrong with the system.]
[Exclusive] Operating Unabated Despite Ongoing Investigation… Victims Grow Further in Frustration (October 5, 2026, 8 News)
(Reported by Yu Su-hwan | Produced by Choi Yun-seo | Camera filming: Kim Hyun-sang, Bae Moon-san | Video editing: Kim Yoon-sung | Produced by SBS Digital News)
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