"It was pure gold for my wife's dowry..." 30s sentenced to prison for fraud with gold-plated bracelet

[Financial News] A man in his 30s was sentenced to prison for deceiving others by claiming a fake gold bracelet was pure gold and swindling jewelry and cash.
According to the legal community on the 18th, the Seoul Northern District Court Criminal Division 5 (Judge Kwon So-young) sentenced Mr. A (39) to 3 years and 6 months in prison on charges including fraud on the 12th of last month.
Mr. A was brought to trial on charges of receiving jewelry and cash worth a total of 89.36 million won from five victims running jewelry stores for a month from November 30 to December 24, 2024.
At that time, Mr. A demanded, "This is a 31.6-don pure gold bracelet I bought for my wife's dowry. Please exchange it for other pure gold jewelry equivalent to the sale price," but the bracelet turned out to be a fake with gold plating.
Mr. A is also reported to have received six pieces of jewelry worth 8.77 million won from another victim using a similar method. The cash he received was estimated to be worth 5.2 million won.
Additionally, Mr. A is accused of presenting someone else's ID and pawning a gold necklace for 12 million won. The pawned gold necklace was also fake. It was revealed that Mr. A had no intention or ability to repay the money even if he received it from the victim.
Mr. A has a criminal record, having been sentenced to 4 years in prison for fraud at the Suwon District Court in November 2018 and again to 2 years in prison for fraud at the same court in August 2023.
The court stated, "The number of crimes is numerous, the amount of damage is large, and the nature of the crime is poor," adding, "He has a history of being punished multiple times for similar crimes, and committed this crime only a few months after the execution of a prison sentence for similar crimes ended." jyseo@fnnews.com Seo Ji-yoon Reporter