"I'll leave out the cost of the shoes"...Bill for gifts from cheating ex-boyfriend [What Do You Think?]

[The Financial News] A woman says that after breaking up with her boyfriend who cheated on her, she was the one who received a "bill for the gifts" and has turned to the internet for advice.

According to Money Today on the 23rd, a woman identified as A posted about her situation on a social networking service (SNS) on the 20th and uploaded a screenshot of the text messages she received from her ex-boyfriend, B.

In the screenshot, B listed the gifts he had given A along with their prices. The list included Apple AirPods Max high-end headphones priced at 780,000 won, Nike Air Force 1 sneakers (185,000 won), a Logitech MX Master 3S mouse (185,000 won), a Patagonia Synchilla Snap-T Fleece Pullover (199,000 won), Sony WH-1000XM5 wireless noise-canceling headphones (449,000 won), a Philips Hue Lighting Starter Kit (220,000 won), and Diptyque Tam Dao Eau de Parfum (235,000 won), among others.

There were also several items in the 30,000 won range, such as shampoo and hand cream.

Emphasizing that the total value of the gifts came to 3.3 million won, B concluded by telling her, "Leave out the shoes and round down the last digits, and just send me 3.1 million won."

A, who posted the story, said she had dated B for a year and that they broke up three months ago after he cheated on her.
She confessed, "I don’t know what to say. Am I supposed to pay him back? He’s the one who cheated, and I was the one who said we should break up because of that."

Legally, however, gifts exchanged between people in a romantic relationship are often treated as a gift under civil law. Because ownership is transferred to the recipient, there is generally no obligation to return the items just because the couple has broken up.

As the post drew widespread attention online, it also emerged that B contacted A and hurled insults at her, demanding that she delete the post.

A wrote, "I was going to ignore him because I was told there’s no legal obligation to pay him back, but he keeps contacting me. It’s crazy," adding, "Until last year I was only preparing for the college entrance exam, and I’ve only just now found my first part-time job."

She continued, "B is an office worker, and even when I said it was too much and that he didn’t have to, he insisted I accept the gifts. If I had a lot of money, maybe I would pay him, but where is a 20-year-old supposed to get 3 million won?" She went on, "He secretly met three other women and got caught, and that’s why we broke up. For him to act like this now is so shameless. I’m speechless."

y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter