Private Revenge Agency Threatens Client After Payment Delay: "Should I Steal Your Identity and Take Out Loans?"

A person in their 20s, who was scammed out of approximately 10 million won in a secondhand transaction, was threatened after attempting to hire a private revenge agency.

In April, Lee, a man in his 20s, saw no progress in the police investigation and searched for "revenge" online. He then contacted "Agency A," which advertised retaliation services, via Telegram.

Following its own investigation, Agency A claimed that the account Lee had deposited money into was a mule account with a balance of only 80 won. The agency proposed to track down the account holder and retrieve the money.

When Lee requested the recovery of 60 million won, including compensation for mental distress, the agency explained its criminal methods in detail, saying, "Those bastards who sell mule accounts have no money. We can raise up to 50 million won by forcing the account holders to open burner phones, run daily high-interest loans, or force them into illegal loans."

The agency then demanded a down payment of 3 million won and a remaining balance of 15 million won upon recovery, requesting payment through a virtual asset platform commonly used on the dark web.

The method required Lee to sign up for the platform, deposit the money into the account, and hand over the ID and password.

However, when Lee grew suspicious and stated, "I will delay the deposit and put the plan on hold," the agency's attitude changed abruptly.

The agency began threatening him, saying, "You clearly said you would go ahead, so we said we'd dispatch our guys, and now you're talking nonsense. We told you the next target would be the client."

When Lee replied, "I will proceed, but I want to change the plan because I'm anxious," the agency pressured him even harder: "Do you think I can't steal your personal information? Should I find your ID right now, open a few burner phones in your name, and take out a bunch of loans?"


Ultimately, Lee filed a complaint against Agency A with the Jinju Police Station in South Gyeongsang Province on charges of intimidation, expressing deep mental anxiety over what they might do.

In fact, the agency's Telegram channel openly posted an introduction claiming they would thoroughly resolve grudges that cannot be legally settled through private sanctions.

They demanded the target's personal information for the revenge. While claiming they do not use physical violence, they listed key methods of retaliation, such as blocking financial activities, damaging the target's reputation at work and among acquaintances, causing physical harm disguised as accidents (such as falling from heights), and framing them for crimes.

Another agency promoted itself by claiming that the police reporting rate is under 15% and the arrest rate is even lower, even posting a "revenge price list."

This agency charged 1.5 million won for visiting the target's address to terrorize them, 1 million won for distributing flyers, 350,000 won for freezing bank accounts, 200,000 won for exposing them in social media comments, and 100,000 won for delivering embarrassing items, meticulously setting prices to encourage crime.

Last month, President Lee Jae-myung strongly warned that "private revenge agencies are a serious crime," prompting the police to launch a massive crackdown. However, these agencies still operate actively in the shadows.

Following the arrest of the perpetrators who executed the revenge, the police are now focusing on tracking down the masterminds who run private detective agencies behind the scenes and those who steal personal information.

Meanwhile, police investigations have revealed that most targets of private revenge are also suspected of crimes such as fraud.

(Photo: Telegram capture, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.