Wanted: 'Second Jeon Cheong-jo' Goes Into Hiding After Release

[Anchor]

There is a case that has been dubbed the "second Jeon Cheong-jo." It involved a man in his 20s who posed as a wealthy female tycoon to carry out luxury goods scams, which was brought to light through our exclusive report last May. At the time of the report, the man was already in prison for another fraud case, but he vanished after being released on probation, prompting the police to launch a manhunt.

First, this exclusive report by Reporter Kim Gyu-ri.

[Reporter]

A man in his 20, surnamed Park, promoted himself on social media as a wealthy female influencer and advertised luxury goods for sale at cheap prices.

Victims flooded forward, saying they had sent money after being lured by prices set at one-tenth of the market value, but never received the items even after two years.

[SBS 8 News (May 11): The woman who flaunted her wealth with luxury officetels and supercars turned out to be a man in his 20s. Victims unanimously noted that the case was similar to the past Jeon Cheong-jo case.]

In this case, brought to light by an exclusive SBS report last May, the number of confirmed victims has reached about 50, and the total damage has surged to 4.5 billion won.

At the time of the report, Park was already detained in a detention center for a fraud crime in which he signed a contract to take over a cafe where he worked and failed to pay over 100 million won in funds.

[Cafe Employee: We couldn't get in touch with him either, so we thought he was sick. But that wasn't the case.]

The police investigating the "second Jeon Cheong-jo case" proved the charges through prison visitations and transferred part of the case to the prosecution in early July.

The problem began when Park was released on July 16 after receiving a suspended sentence in the appellate trial for his previous fraud case.

The police applied for an arrest warrant against Park on charges of luxury goods fraud, but Park went into hiding ahead of his pre-trial detention hearing scheduled for August 18.

Although the arrest warrant was issued following a review conducted without the suspect present, Park had already vanished.

Regarding suspicions over why they did not rush to secure his custody, the police explained that Park had been cooperative after his release, appearing for summons investigations with a lawyer, and stated that he admitted to the charges and intended to compensate for the damages.

The police, who belatedly set out to track him down, placed a travel ban on Park and issued a nationwide wanted poster yesterday (September 9).

(Video Editing: Lim Yeojin, VJ: Jaemin Noh, Design: Kang Yoon-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.