Deliberately Bumping into Busy Pedestrians, Man Extorts 22 Million Won

[Anchor]

A man in his 20s has been arrested by police for intentionally bumping into passersby in public spaces, dropping his mobile phone, and demanding repair costs. He scammed 38 people out of 22 million won.

Reporter Im Jihyeon explains how to respond if you fall victim to such a scam.

[Reporter]

During the evening hours at the crowded concourse of Jamsil Station in Seoul.

A man is walking along when he suddenly collides with someone approaching from the opposite direction.

After bowing his head in apology, he talks for a long time while holding the dropped mobile phone, and then walks away somewhere together with the person.

They are heading off to get an estimate for mobile phone repairs and demand money.

Targeting the fact that people move about busily in crowded concourses, a man surnamed A intentionally bumped into them and demanded repair costs by presenting a pre-damaged mobile phone he had prepared in advance.

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

When police launched an investigation upon receiving a report and checked A's bank transfer records, it turned out that the victims numbered as many as 38.

The requested 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 A's behavior was strange, they did not consider it serious enough to report to the police.

[Kim Dae-geun / Team Leader, 5th Team, Detective Division 1, Songpa Police Station: (At mobile phone stores) He received verbal estimates and demanded that amount from the victims. Those who responded by saying, 'I will compensate you after checking the CCTV footage,' mostly avoided becoming victims.]

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

(Video by Choi Dae-woong | Video Editing by Park Chun-bae)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.