"Me Too, Sister": The Nightmare Begins... Why She Sent 140 Million Won With Her Own Hands

Last October, victim A was scammed out of 3.8 million won during a used car transaction.

However, that was not the end.

In April of this year, a second nightmare began when A happened to see an advertisement on social media promising to recover the scammed money.

[Fraud Victim: I got scammed out of 3.8 million won trying to buy something on Danggeun. They said they urgently needed the money and asked me to trust them and send it first, so I did. (Last April) there was an ad on social media claiming to be a law firm that could recover scammed money. That was when my debts started piling up. Eventually, when I couldn't get any more money, they suddenly blocked me and went dark.]

The fraudsters, impersonating a law firm, sent A a lawyer's ID card, a Korean Bar Association registration certificate, and a plausible contract.

There was no down payment required. Instead, they claimed they would only take a 20 percent success fee after recovering the funds.

Then, strange things began to happen.

The ring claimed that A's 380,000 won in scam losses had flowed into a Macau casino, and that to retrieve it, A had to gamble directly and win the money back.

To achieve this, the gang even mobilized an "IT technician."

[Fraud Victim: But they said because (the scammed 3.8 million won) went overseas, it couldn't be recovered directly, but could be retrieved 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 chat room for a victim support group consisting of about 20 people, reassuring A by claiming that others were recovering their money in the same way.

They also brainwashed A into believing that this was not gambling but a legitimate process to recover the money, building trust by responding to A's messages day and night.

[Fraud Victim: When it reached about 5.17 million won, something went wrong and (the account) was frozen, so I couldn't see the gambling site anymore. 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 withdraw funds were repeated, A ended up being extorted out of an additional 140 million won instead of recovering the initial 3.8 million won.

When A could no longer secure more money, the gang cut off contact and vanished.

Experts advise that so-called "recovery scams" are on the rise, urging people not to sign contracts based solely on social media advertisements and to always meet and verify lawyers in person before entering into agreements.

(Planned by Lee Se-young, Video Editing by Choi Gang-san, Video Source: News Hunters, Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.