[Exclusive] Chinese Woman Posing as Wife of Korean Conglomerate Employee Defrauds Acquaintances Out of Billions as 'Two-Faced Investor'

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A Chinese woman in her 30s has been apprehended by the police for running an investment scam targeting acquaintances, using a Ponzi scheme to repay earlier investors with new investors' money. The victims claim that she embezzled up to 14.5 billion won, but as most transactions were conducted through WeChat and Chinese bank accounts, the police are struggling to determine the exact amount of losses.

On June 12, the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency announced that Ms. A, a woman in her 30s, has been booked without detention on charges of fraud.

Gyeonggi Suwon City Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency. Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency

According to the police, from January 2022 to February 2024, Ms. A allegedly deceived four acquaintances by promising guaranteed profits if they invested in high-return businesses, and siphoned off at least several billion won from them.

The complaint filed by the victims states that Ms. A, who had no particular occupation or source of income, described different business opportunities to each victim to collect funds. Investigations revealed that she solicited investments and loans via WeChat, claiming that “significant profits can be made by purchasing mobile phones in bulk at low prices and reselling them,” or that she was “operating a business that repays others’ credit card bills or loans for a fee.”

In particular, to one victim who had been her friend for over 10 years, she falsely claimed that “goods purchased on behalf of others are being held at customs, and customers are demanding refunds—if you lend me money, I can resolve the situation and pay you back immediately.”

During the investigation, evidence emerged that she used funds taken from subsequent victims to pay off earlier debts, a typical Ponzi (pyramid) scheme. She intermittently paid back some principal or profits to reassure the victims. The complainants claim, “Ms. A said she could not receive large sums into her own account and induced us to transfer funds to other accounts, but it turned out these accounts belonged to other victims.”

Ms. A reportedly acted as if she was financially well off, claiming her husband worked for a major Korean conglomerate. When she failed to repay as promised, she explained that she herself had also fallen victim to a scam by someone else.

The complaint specifies that Ms. A obtained approximately 14.5 billion won through 1,137 transactions. However, the police are still recalculating the total losses, as many transactions were conducted through local accounts. So far, the confirmed losses amount to several billion won.

Yoon Yongseok, an attorney at Hyunmyung Law Firm representing the complainants, stated, “All four victims filed individual civil lawsuits in China and won their cases. However, since Ms. A is not residing in China, it is difficult to proceed with criminal proceedings, and we have been waiting for two years for the investigation results in Korea.” The victims became aware of each other during the Chinese court proceedings when the court informed them that there were multiple people scammed in a similar manner.

A police official said, “We are analyzing account transaction histories and the flow of funds to uncover the structure of the crime.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.