Targeting Busy Pedestrians for Phone Scam: Man Arrested for Extorting 22 Million Won

[Anchor]

A man in his 20s has been arrested by police for intentionally bumping into passersby in public places, dropping his phone, and demanding repair costs. He extorted 22 million won from 38 victims.

Reporter Im Jihyeon explains how to respond if you fall victim to this type of scam.

[Reporter]

During the evening hours, people are busy moving through the concourse of Jamsil Station in Seoul.

A man walks along and suddenly bumps into someone approaching from the opposite direction.

After picking up the dropped phone in front of the person bowing his head in apology, he talks for a long time and then walks away with them somewhere.

They are heading off to demand money after receiving a smartphone repair cost estimate.

Targeting the fact that people in crowded concourses mostly move in a hurry, the suspect, Mr. A, intentionally bumped into them and shoved a pre-broken phone in their faces to demand repair fees.

[Cho Gyeong-ho / Bupyeong-gu, Incheon: It made me think it was an unexpected method, and since there could actually be people whose phones broke, it's also ambiguous to just rashly ignore it and walk away.]

After receiving a report and launching an investigation by checking Mr. A's account transfer records, police found that the number of victims reached 38.

The demanded repair costs ranged from 400,000 won to 1.5 million won per person, and over a period of five months starting in January, he extorted 22 million won using this method.

Victims reportedly stated to the police that although most of them felt Mr. A's behavior was strange, they did not think it warranted reporting to the police.

[Kim Dae-geun / Team 5 Leader, Investigation Division 1, Songpa Police Station: He received verbal estimates at phone repair shops and demanded that exact amount from the victims. Those who responded by saying, 'I will compensate you after checking the CCTV footage,' mostly avoided becoming victims.]

Police detained Mr. A on fraud charges and forwarded the case to the prosecution.

(Photo courtesy of / Video reporting: Choi Dae-woong, Video editing: Park Choon-bae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.