A man in his 60s, identified by the surname Lee, was swindled out of 3.8 million won in a secondhand transaction fraud last autumn.

While feeling discouraged, Lee saw an advertisement on social media this past spring claiming that they could recover money lost to fraud.

Out of a desperate hope, he reached out and was contacted by a person claiming to be a lawyer, identified as A, who sent over a lawyer's identification card and a registration certificate from the Korean Bar Association.

[Lee (pseudonym) / Victim: They sent me a profile picture and claimed it was them. So, I trusted them completely.]

However, immediately after signing a contract, A introduced him to another person, B, claiming an IT expert was needed to recover the funds. They alleged that the 3.8 million won Lee had lost had been moved to a casino in Macau.

They then urged him to deposit money into a cryptocurrency exchange account, claiming they had the technology to hack the casino and that he would get all his money back if he cooperated.

When Lee began to suspect fraud, they even invited him to a group chat for victims, claiming there were others in similar situations.

[Lee (pseudonym) / Victim: I was a bit suspicious. But then a woman in the same group said, 'Sister, other people have already recovered their money and left. Don't worry.']

Claiming that fund recovery was narrowly failing due to repeated account freezes, they demanded more money each time to resolve the issues. Over the course of two months, Lee deposited a total of 140 million won more than 20 times.

[Lee (pseudonym) / Victim: I had a jeonse deposit (a large lump-sum housing lease deposit), and I withdrew 70 million won from it. When I couldn't come up with any more money, they suddenly blocked me and vanished.]

The actual lawyer whose identity A impersonated has already filed a criminal complaint with the police, stating that their identity was stolen. The law firm that A claimed to represent was also identified by the Korean Bar Association as a fraudulent entity that the public should be wary of.

[Lawyer whose identity was stolen: I told them, of course, that it wasn't me. It seems someone is using my personal information to commit another fraud against you...]

Reports of lawyer impersonation cases have surged from 7 in 2022 to 177 last year.

[Kim Ju-hyun / Policy Director, Korean Bar Association: Because these crimes are becoming more sophisticated, just searching online is not enough. You must verify through phone calls and in-person meetings before making any deposits...]

The Anseong Police Station in Gyeonggi Province is tracking the flow of funds, suspecting that there may be additional victims beyond Lee.

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Reported by Kwon Min-gyu | Written by Kim Da-yeon | Video by Kang Dong-chul and Lee Sang-hak | Video Editing by Kim Yun-seong | Graphics by Park Tae-young | Produced by SBS Digital News