A fraud victim personally tracked down the suspect's whereabouts and asked the police to make an arrest, but the responding police officers ended up letting the suspect slip away.

Back in March, a victim who ran a distribution company in Jongno-gu filed a fraud complaint with the police after a man hired through an acquaintance vanished with 5 million won in company funds just a week after starting work.

The police handling the case responded that they could not locate the suspect, prompting the victim to directly provide the police with the suspect's address obtained through an acquaintance.

However, the arrest was still not made. Frustrated, the victim ultimately lured the suspect, who was in Busan, up to Seoul and requested police assistance, leading to an absurd situation.

[Victim: They suddenly started a random stop-and-question and just let him go. They asked, "Are you [Name]?", and the suspect replied, "No. I'm [Name]," using my identity. Even though I had given the police my name and everything, the con artist stated my name and my resident registration number, and the police said, "Mr. [Name], we apologize. Have a safe trip home," and let him go.]

In the end, the police were tricked by the suspect and failed to make the arrest.

[Lee Kyung-min / Attorney: This is a situation where the problem could have ended if the victim had caught him personally. But because they asked the police for help and let him get away, it is beyond not being able to eat a meal that was spoon-fed to them. It is more like saying, 'I won't eat it, spit it out,' and even throwing ashes over it.]

Experts pointed out that it was inappropriate that even basic identity verification was not carried out, and an official from the jurisdiction's district police unit also admitted to shortcomings, stating that the transmission of reporter information was insufficient.

The victim obtained information that the fled suspect was in Busan and notified the police again, but this time was told to "file a report directly with the Busan Police Station."

Amid growing controversy, the police explained, "It was not meant to tell them to go all the way to Busan to report directly, but rather that they could request a dispatch to the scene through a 112 report."

Ultimately, the suspect has still not been caught, and the police stated that they have currently requested a commissioned location investigation from the police station with jurisdiction over the Busan area.

(Planned by Lee Seyoung | Video edited by Kim Na-on | Video source: News Hunters | Produced by SBS Digital News)