“On the brink of closing, they heard ‘We’ll promote your business’... Advertising agent who preyed on small merchants [Scammers]”

[The Financial News]"I guarantee your business will appear at the top of Naver Place search results for six months."A self-employed owner, identified as A, who ran a skincare shop, received a proposal in April 2024 from an advertising agent, B, age 32. B told A that if she paid an advertising fee of 1.8 million won, her shop would be pushed up in the search rankings. Through the Place tab, consumers can use search keywords to find stores they like, so A thought there could be no better form of advertising and transferred the promised amount to B. However, before long B began avoiding contact and eventually disappeared, and the promised promotion was never properly carried out.
A was not the only victim. B approached other self-employed people running skincare shops, scalp tattoo studios, restaurants, and more using similar tactics. Small business owners, already struggling in a sluggish economy, were lured by the promise that their shops would be promoted on a major portal site and ended up suffering losses. The damage per person ranged from 1.8 million won to 5.1 million won. In this way, by July 2024 B had taken a total of about 14 million won from six people.
He also deceived another victim by claiming that, in addition to the advertising agency, he ran a lending business. He lied that when he received a loan request from a client, if the victim lent money on his behalf, she could earn interest. Victim C handed over about 6 million won, but it turned out that B neither operated an actual lending business nor had he received any loan requests from customers. Even if he took money from C, he was in no position to pay her any interest.
According to the legal community on the 3rd, the Seoul Northern District Court on the 25th of last month sentenced B, who was indicted on fraud charges, to four months in prison, suspended for one year. The court dismissed all applications for compensation orders.
B initially argued that his advertising business had simply run into difficulties, so he failed to provide proper promotion, but that he had not acted with intent to defraud. The court did not accept this. It found that when he received advertising fees from the victims, he was fully aware that he would not be able to perform the work properly, yet still took their money. The court concluded that, at the very least, he had conditional intent to deceive the victims.
The court determined that B had neither the intention nor the ability to properly provide advertising services. Although he handled advertising work normally in the early stages of his business, by the time he collected fees from the victims he was more than 40 million won in debt. His financial situation was so poor that he was considering closing the business. Nevertheless, he took money from the victims without properly disclosing his financial condition. Part of the advertising fees was used for personal purposes, such as repaying his debts.
The court criticized him, saying the nature of the crime was serious. It stated, "The defendant deceived the victims even though his financial situation had deteriorated to the point where he had neither the intention nor the ability to properly carry out advertising work," and added, "He has prior criminal records, including two fines for similar offenses, and there are victims with whom he has not reached a settlement." These factors were cited as reasons for the sentence.
However, the court also took into account as mitigating factors that he admitted part of the wrongdoing and expressed remorse, and that he reached settlements with some victims who no longer wish to see him punished.
jyseo@fnnews.com Seo Ji-yoon Reporter