[Anchor]

A man in his 20s has been arrested by police for intentionally bumping into passersby in a public space, dropping a smartphone, and demanding repair costs. He extorted 22 million won from 38 victims.

Reporter Im Jihyeon looks into 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 a dropped smartphone, and then walks away with the person somewhere.

They are heading out to demand money after receiving a smartphone repair cost estimate.

Targeting the fact that people move in a hurry in crowded station concourses, the suspect, A, deliberately bumped into them and demanded repair costs by shoving a pre-broken smartphone like this.

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

Upon receiving a report and launching an investigation by checking A's account transfer records and other details, police revealed that the number of victims reached 38.

The demanded repair costs ranged from 400,000 won to 1.5 million won per person, and he extorted 22 million won using this method over a period of 5 months starting last January.

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 a smartphone store) he received a verbal estimate and demanded that exact amount from the victims. Those who responded by saying, "I will provide compensation after checking the CCTV," mostly avoided becoming victims.]

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

(Video by Choi Dae-woong | Video Editing by Park Chun-bae)