CHANGWON — A court has handed down a heavy prison term to a person in their 30s who posed as working for the chairman of a nonexistent equipment company to take more than 900 million won ($630,000) from an acquaintance and the acquaintance's mother.
The Changwon District Court's Criminal Division 4, presided over by Oh Dae-seok, said on the 19th that it sentenced the defendant, identified only as A, to four years in prison on charges including fraud under the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes.
A was indicted on charges of taking a combined 903.83 million won from an acquaintance, identified as B, and B's mother between October 2023 and December last year by invoking the name of an equipment company chairman. The chairman was found to be a person A had fabricated.
A told B that "you can make big money working under the chairman" and deceived B by saying, "The chairman is working on a large construction project, so pay the association registration fee, membership dues and the site deposit on his behalf."
A then approached B's mother while impersonating the chairman, telling her, "If you give me money, I will get back the money you could not collect from A," and extracted additional funds from her.
The court said it determined the sentence by weighing factors including that the victims were a mother and son, that the amount taken exceeded 900 million won, that A spent most of the money on personal expenses such as living costs and entertainment, and that the victims pleaded for a severe punishment while describing extreme suffering.