▲ Cheongju District Court
A 40-year-old individual has been sentenced to prison for swindling a large sum of money from acquaintances by falsely promising interest payments in return for loans.
The Cheongju District Court Criminal Division 11 (Presiding Judge Kang Seong-hun) announced today (June 16) that it has sentenced the defendant, identified as A, to 9 years in prison on charges including fraud under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Economic Crimes.
A was indicted for swindling 9.2 billion won from 31 acquaintances over 345 occasions between January 2023 and the following 20 months, by claiming, "If you lend me money, I will pay you the principal plus 3 percent monthly interest."
It was reported that the defendant posed as a pawnshop operator and deceived victims by displaying fake jewelry purchased online, pretending it was high-value collateral received from debtors.
However, A did not actually operate a pawnshop and was using money received from new victims to pay off previous ones, a practice commonly known as a "Ponzi scheme."
The court stated, "Although the defendant returned some money to the victims as interest or principal during the course of the crime, this appears to have been a means to continue the fraudulent scheme through a 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' method." The court added, "The unrecovered losses from the defendant's crimes are substantial, and many victims are suffering from mental and financial distress."
The court further ruled, "However, the sentence was determined by taking into account that the actual amount of damage is less than the total swindled amount due to some repayments, and that some victims have submitted petitions requesting leniency for the defendant."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.